Curt Schilling Criticizes Trevor Bauer For Bloody Finger
BOSTON (CBS) -- Cleveland Indians starter Trevor Bauer was a bloody mess on the mound Monday night.
Bauer, who required 10 stitches after he cut his pinky last week while cleaning his drone, was dripping blood all over the place as his sewn up finger split open in the bottom of the first inning of Game 3 of the ALCS in Toronto. He recorded the first two outs of the inning, with a walk sandwiched in between, before the blood really started to flow, and Bauer was removed after Blue Jays manager John Gibbons pointed out the oozing digit to umpires.
It all made for great viewing if you were having a late dinner, and the Indians escaped with a 4-2 win to take a 3-0 series lead as manager Terry Francona pieced together a masterful performance by the Cleveland bullpen.
Tito has some experience with pitchers springing a leak on the mound, as he was on the Boston bench back in 2004 when Curt Schilling miraculously toed the rubber in Game 6 of the ALCS in New York despite having stitches in his right ankle following a procedure to suture his tendon sheath. Schilling tossed seven innings of one-run ball as Boston won the game to tie the series at three games apiece, and his bloody sock became an image in Red Sox lore as they ended their 86-year World Series drought a week later.
So as Bauer oozed from his pinky in the early goings of Monday night's game, it no doubt led some viewers to think back to Schilling's heroics 12 years ago. No one was really comparing the two, but just mentioning Bauer in the same ilk as Schilling led to the outspoken former pitcher to take to Twitter to clear something up:
Please don't tweet at me about Bauer.He cost himself a start, likely more, AND his teammates, and fans, dicking around with a drone. #stupid
— Curt Schilling (@gehrig38) October 18, 2016
It's easy to understand why Schilling wasn't impressed with Bauer: he hurt himself pitching in Game 2 against the Yankees, while Bauer was injured while essentially playing with a toy. But whatever you do, don't mention the "Bloody Sock" in the same sentence as Monday night's "Bloody Finger," especially to Schilling.
If you do, things will get messy.