Cincinnati Reds manager defends Sean Marshall - MLB News
The Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker on Saturday dismissed any suggestions that the incident involving the New York Mets’ David Wright being hit by Sean Marshall was deliberate. Defending the relief pitcher of his team, Baker said he had not asked Marshall to pitch inside this time.
On the other hand, Wright who was hit in the eighth inning of the game being played between the Cincinnati Reds and New York Mets, kind of opined that he was hit deliberately.
Wright’s virtual accusation was due to the fact that prior to it, Joey Votto of the Reds was hit by Dillon Gee of the Mets in the third inning. Soon after that, in the same game, Wright’s getting hit would have inevitably followed the accusation.
"We would have done the same thing," Wright said. "I appreciate him keeping the ball down and kind of doing it the right way. But that has to be expected. That's just guys policing themselves, and that's the way the game's played."
Baker, nonetheless, tended to disagree with any such suggestion that would serve to censure or condemn his pitcher. In his relief pitcher’s defence, Baker chose to present a technical explanation, maintaining any other view pertaining to it would be how others perceived it.
“He was trying to come inside with a fastball. If he's 4-for-6 off Marshall, he's probably hit breaking balls.”
Baker did not stop there and posed a question as to what did Votto do to deserve the treatment meted out to him. Nonetheless, the Cincinnati Reds manager shunned hurling any accusation against the Mets’ pitcher, saying Gee apparently did not mean to hit Votto.
"What did Votto do to deserve that?" Baker said. "This guy doesn't clown, this guy doesn't showboat. He doesn't do anything that would merit getting hit ... other than just hitting .360."
Whatever the reason that inflamed the passion of the two camps as well as the avid fans, it did not – at the end, turn very ugly which characterizes some sports. It remains to be seen, nonetheless, how the two teams get on each other in the next encounter.
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