Detroit – Tigers’ manager AJ Hinch was later than usual getting to his post-game press conference. There was tension on his face and in his words when leaned into the microphone. These clearly are not the best of times for his baseball team.
Dealing with a rash of injuries, including three-fifths of the original starting rotation, the hope was that his $115 million lefty Framber Valdez could provide a brief oasis after deploying back-to-back bullpen starts.
Nope.
Instead, he responded with the worst outing of his nine-year career. And got himself ejected and possibly suspended in the process, as the Red Sox beat the Tigers for the second straight night at Comerica Park, 10-3.
“I understand,” Hinch said. “I understand their (Red Sox) frustration and the optics. I understand the whole thing.”
He just didn’t like it. Not any part of it.
Valdez had already allowed eight runs when he came out to start the fourth and gave up back-to-back home runs to Willson Contreras and Wilyer Abreu, monster-sized home runs. Contreras’ blast went 449 feet. Abreu’s flew 396 feet. Both admired their work leaving the box and took their time around the bases.
Valdez’s next pitch was straight at Trevor Story’s back. There seemed to be little doubt of his intent. It was a four-seam fastball. He hadn’t thrown a four-seam fastball all season.
Benches and bullpens from both sides emptied but there were no punches thrown. There wasn’t even much pushing and shoving, mostly just jawing. The only thing that happened was Valdez was ejected.
The episode left a bad taste in Hinch’s mouth. Asked if he needed to have a conversation with Valdez, he said it would be handled internally.
“We play a really good brand of baseball here. That didn’t feel like it,” he said. “It’s not judging intent. I have no idea (if Valdez threw at Story on purpose). But I know when you go out on the field and you are in those confrontations, you usually feel like you are in your right.
“It didn’t feel good being out there. So I understand their frustration and I understand the moment. It was the low moment of a frustrating night.”
Valdez denied intentionally throwing at Story.
“Not at all,” he said through interpreter Carlos Guillen. “It was not on purpose. It might’ve looked like that but it wasn’t. I was trying to throw a strike after two consecutive home runs and the pitch just came out of my hand. It wasn’t on purpose.”
He was asked about throwing a four-seamer there, his first four-seamer of the season. He said it was a Plan B fastball because he was not getting the movement he wanted on his sinker. His average horizontal movement on the 30 sinkers he threw was his season-norm 16 inches, per Statcast. He was getting two inches more vertical ride than normal, though.
“Honestly, today I was trying to throw a fastball, because if you look at the scoreboard it shows sinker, but my sinker isn’t at 11 or 12 (inches),” he said. “Today it was at 11, at 12 some sinkers. I wanted to throw the fastball because I threw it in the bullpen today. That pitch just stayed up and hit him by bad luck. It wasn’t intentional or anything. Anybody can have a pitch get away from them in that situation.
“For me it was a tense (situation). I tried to do my best, and that pitch just (went there). I was trying to use the four-seamer as a back-up plan.”
Home plate umpire Adam Beck did not immediately eject Valdez. The ejection came after the players had left the field and he conferred with the other umpires, including crew chief Dan Iassogna.
“I thought it was completely unfair,” Valdez said. “First of all, he should have given me a warning. If it was on purpose and I threw a second one or a third one, then of course, I get ejected. But I’m not making those decisions. The umpires are doing their job and they made the decision to eject me.
“But as you can see on the video, I wasn’t feisty. I wasn’t angry against them. I just thought it was very unfair. I should’ve gotten a warning.”
Story told Boston reporters that he absolutely believed Valdez threw at him. In fact, he cited a game last year when Valdez was with the Astros. The Red Sox were hitting him around in that game, too, and he plunked Ceddanne Rafaela.
“I’m just glad it didn’t escalate more than that,” Hinch said. “Both teams did a good job standing their ground and getting off the field.”
The ejection will hurt the Tigers even more if it leads to a suspension for Valdez. The last thing the Tigers need now is to lose another starting pitcher. Even if it’s for one start.
“That’s for the league to discuss,” Hinch said. “I know everybody on the field did a good job of just deescalating everything and making sure it didn’t go further.”
Valdez said he doesn’t expect to be suspended.
“I don’t think so,” he said. “If it was on purpose, I would’ve gone toward the hitter saying something, yelling at them. That didn’t happen. I was calm, just staying out of the situation. The benches cleared but nothing happened. I even left the field quietly. It was not on purpose. I know the situation here with our bullpen but I don’t think there should be a suspension.”
Valdez’s forgettable final line: three innings, nine hits, career-high 10 runs, seven earned runs, career-high three home runs.
He gave up three, two-out runs in the first, but they were unearned. An error by third baseman Zach McKinstry, in his first game back off the injured list, extended the inning and Rafaela cashed it in with a three-run, opposite-field homer.
The Red Sox scored five times against Valdez in the third inning, rattling off five straight singles. Valdez was asked if he thought the Red Sox had something on him, if he was tipping pitches somehow.
“I’ve been working on my mechanics, trying to put the ball in the strike zone, so that idea came through my mind,” he said. “Was I tipping my pitches? Was I doing something with my mechanics that gave something away? Honestly, I don’t think so. If that was the case and they did have something on me, then good for them. That means I was not doing my job.
“But honestly, that stuff happens in the game. I have to go back and watch the video and see how my body was moving.”
The Tigers bullpen, which had taken down 13 innings in the previous two games, had to eat six more. But Brenan Hanifee and Burch Smith gulped three scoreless innings each and Enmanuel De Jesus, who threw 32 pitches Sunday, pitched a scoreless ninth.
“It feels daunting to ask as much as we’re asking out of our guys,” Hinch said. “But it’s our reality right now. I’m proud of our guys in the bullpen for taking the ball when their name is called.”
The Red Sox, who fired their manager Alex Cora last month and came to Detroit eight games under .500, will leave town with the first series win by a visiting team at Comerica Park this season. The Tigers (18-19) had won the first five series.
Chris.McCosky@detroitnews.com
@cmccosky
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Tigers’ Valdez ejected, benches clear in loss to Red Sox
Reporting by Chris McCosky, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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