Detroit – Eric Hosmer, the standout first baseman on the Royals’ last World Series team, was locked in on the Tigers-Red Sox game Tuesday night.
He is part of the Royals broadcast team now and he sent out an interesting video perhaps showing the best explanation for why Framber Valdez threw a pitch that hit Trevor Story in the back and ignited a brief and uneventful benches-clearing incident at Comerica Park.
Valdez repeatedly said he did not intentionally throw at Story, but the optics were bad. He had given up five straight singles and five runs in the third inning and then back-to-back home runs in the fourth prior to Story’s at-bat.
The first pitch to Story was the first four-seam fastball Valdez had thrown all season and it was directed right at the middle of Story’s back.
Hosmer broke down video on a couple of at-bats from the first inning when first Wilyer Abreu and then Story were on second base. Both players stole second base, which is always part of the game-planning against Valdez, who does not control the running game well.
But in these two instances, Hosmer believed there was another pre-determined motivation for getting to second base. As the video showed, both players were stealing Valdez’s pitch grips from second base and relaying what pitch was coming.
The video showed first Abreu peering in. Which is perfectly legal, by the way. Once he determined the grip, sinker or breaking ball, he stood at second and made eye contact with Story. If he stood with both feet on the bag or with one on the second base side, he didn’t have the grip.
But, as was the case in these videos, he had his right foot on the third base side, which meant he had the grip. When he took his lead, he raised his right arm to indicate that spin was coming.
Story, in that at-bat, hit a hard ground ball off a curveball that Zach McKinstry booted at third base. Story stole second and repeated the same process. He spied the grip, relayed the pitch to Ceddanne Rafaela, this time a sinker, and he swatted a three-run homer to right field.
The Red Sox had runners at second base throughout the five-run second inning and it was likely between the second and third innings that Valdez was alerted to the Red Sox spying.
Valdez was asked if he thought the Red Sox had something on him after the game.
“I’ve been working on my mechanics, trying to put the ball in the strike zone, so that idea came through my mind,” Valdez said through interpreter Carlos Guillen. “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 guess here, as Hosmer’s breakdown showed, is that he had already watched the video from in iPad in the dugout and knew what the Red Sox had on him.
The back-to-back home runs by Willson Contreras and Abreu, were well-struck baseball off poorly-located pitches. But his mind might have been on Story and retribution for the grip stealing.
“I think we all know what’s what,” Story told Boston reporters. “It’s pretty indisputable….You can kind of see, just from the past, things that have happened.”
He was referring to a similar incident with the Red Sox last season when Valdez, pitching for the Astros, drilled Rafaela with a pitch near the end of a six-run fourth inning.
“I was in there ready to hit and (the pitch) showed up way behind me and off the numbers,” Story said. “So I think we all know what’s what.”
Red Sox manager Chad Tracy agreed.
“Yes, I do think it was intentional,” he told reporters. “I thought it was weak, and I thought everybody saw it. Their side, our side, I think everybody saw it. And yeah, it was weak”
The Tigers, already with three starting pitchers on the injured list, now wait to see if the league hands down a suspension. Typically, if it’s deemed that a pitcher intentionally threw at a hitter, which is why Valdez was ejected, the league will impose a seven-day suspension. Which means Valdez will miss one start.
“I understand,” Tigers’ manager AJ Hinch said. “I understand their (Red Sox) frustration and the optics. I understand the whole thing. We play a really good brand of baseball here. That didn’t feel like it. 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.”
Chris.McCosky@detroitnews.com
@cmccosky
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Was Framber Valdez retaliating for Red Sox grip-stealing? Video says yes
Reporting by Chris McCosky, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
