Pedroia Still Ailing, Farrell Complaining Over Machado Slide
By DAVID GINSBURG, AP Sports Writer
BALTIMORE (AP) — One day later, Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia and manager John Farrell were still sore about Manny Machado's spikes-up slide.
Pedroia was not in Boston's starting lineup Saturday after hurting his knee and ankle in the eighth inning of Friday night's 2-0 loss to Baltimore. The injury occurred when Machado spiked Pedroia in the back of his left leg while sliding into second on a force play.
Pedroia lay on the ground for several minutes before being helped off the field.
"My knee's sore, and then my ankle is a little sore, but I'll be all right," Pedroia said Saturday afternoon. "If I have to go in the game, I'd go in the game."
Farrell was so angered over Machado's action that he called the league office, seeking clarification about the rule designed to protect infielders from late and aggressive slides.
"Clearly there is a difference in opinion in how that rule was interpreted and the slide," Farrell said. "Bottom line, if that slide last night is not deemed an illegal slide, we should just get rid of the rule."
Farrell said he spoke with Chief Baseball Officer Joe Torre.
"He can understand the feeling of trying to protect our players. Fact is, we have a player who is not in the lineup tonight as a result of the slide," Farrell said. "Basically, they said he received the throw as a first baseman. If that was the case, his left leg would have been the one extended toward the throw.
"The rule has three different components and we talked about those. Still, that was an extremely late slide and in my view, an illegal slide."
Pedroia said Machado sent him a text after the game, offering an apology.
"I just said, 'Thanks for reaching out,'" said Pedroia, who was replaced by Marco Hernandez at second base Saturday.
Pedroia didn't seem to harbor any hard feelings.
"It's baseball," he said. "I was trying to get one out, so I just put my foot on the back part of the base to get that out. If he just slid into the part of the base that I gave him, he'd have been safe. Luckily, he didn't. We got the out."
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