HR etiquette in question

ARLINGTON, Texas — As the A’s and Rangers duke it out for a potential wild-card spot this season, the rivalry gained a little spice in the past few days, with Texas starter Adrian Sampson expressing displeasure with Mark Canha’s comportment after a homer off Sampson on Saturday.

Sampson signaled at Canha to run when Canha paused to watch his solo blast to left in the fourth inning, and asked if Canha’s pause had upset him, Sampson said, “It sure did. I’m not going to lie. There’s no place for that in this game. Just disrespectful ... when he takes his time like that, I’ll let him know.”

The A’s, in their turn, are equally unimpressed with Sampson’s behavior. According to Ramón Laureano, his teammates and Oakland coaches, Sampson intentionally stepped on Laureano’s bat on his way off the field after he retired Laureano to end the fourth.

“It was bad,” said one A’s official, who went back to look at video of the incident. “He stepped right on the middle of the bat, there’s no way it wasn’t on purpose. He could have broken it.”

“That was weak,” Laureano told The Chronicle. “Real weak.”

The A’s outfielder said he had waited after the game to talk to Sampson about it but didn’t see him. Laureano had hoped to track him down Sunday to do so.

Canha was bemused about Sampson’s reaction to his homer. As far as Canha’s homer celebrations go, he was a model of restraint — this is the “BatFlippin’ Season” man, a player who has been known to go whole hog with the flourishes. He dropped his bat gently Saturday.

“Has he seen me play before? I’m certainly capable of a lot more than that,” Canha said with a laugh Sunday morning. “Everyone has their opinion on that stuff and apparently he’s a little extra sensitive about it. I put my head down, dropped my bat and I watched for two steps out of the box, that’s it. He put his hands up and said, ‘Run.’ ”

As for Sampson’s comments that there’s no place in the game for such behavior, Canha said, “He certainly thinks highly of himself if he thinks he’s the end-all, be-all about what goes in our game. But he pitched a great game, and I have a great deal of respect for him and how he responded after giving up the home run. He got me out the next time and he pitched a complete game, but his comments are a little eyebrow raising.

“He’s a competitor, he’s pitching well, I got him and I watched for a moment. I’m allowed to.”