MLB: Yankees’ Sabathia takes Boston’s bunting as a slap in the face
NEW YORK— It was a delicately hit ball, a bunt placed by Eduardo Nunez just in front of the pitcher’s mound in the first inning Thursday. But for C.C. Sabathia, who came down off the hill to field it, the bunt came saddled with a gesture, one that seemed bold enough to awaken a bear in winter.
“I’m an old man,” said Sabathia, the 37-year-old New York Yankees pitcher who has needed a bulky knee brace and cortisone and lubricant shots just to make it to this point in the season. “They should want to go out and try to kick my butt. I just feel like they try to take the weak road.”
Sabathia, speaking before reporters in front of his locker, was showered and dressed after the Yankees’ 6-2 victory against the Boston Red Sox Thursday night, but he was still steaming about a play that had little impact on the game.
It was an encouraging start for the Yankees to their four-game series at Yankee Stadium, as Greg Bird and Gary Sanchez both hit home runs in a comfortable win.
But it was quickly overshadowed by what was at its core a case of baseball etiquette: When is it OK to bunt?
There are some clear cases: It is considered poor form to try to break up a no-hitter with a bunt when the game is not close. And the Yankees somewhat famously chose not to bunt against a hobbled Curt Schilling in the 2004 post-season.
Over the course of his 17-year career, Sabathia, who is six-foot-six and 300 pounds, has not taken kindly to teams bunting on him — two years ago, he yelled at Seattle’s Kyle Seager for doing so. Thus it did not go unnoticed when, in his last start against the Red Sox, two weeks ago at Fenway Park, the emerging star Andrew Benintendi tried, unsuccessfully, to bunt against Sabathia.
On Thursday, Sabathia threw wide to first base after Nunez’s one-out bunt on Boston’s second at-bat of the game, allowing him to reach base. Sabathia then walked the next two batters. But after he steadied himself and struck out Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers, Sabathia roared off the mound — shouting expletives toward the Red Sox dugout and toward Mookie Betts, who was on first.
Asked to whom his words were directed, Sabathia said, “All of them.”
Sabathia did relent a bit in his anger. He said Nunez, his former teammate, tapped his chest and apologized when he stepped in for his next at-bat — which ended with him rifling a single past Sabathia’s ear.
“I don’t know what to say, I love Nuney,” Sabathia said.
Nunez also found humour in the exchange. But he was stridently unrepentant.
He pointed out that the Red Sox do not have many sluggers — they are 26th in baseball in home runs — and have to play more of a small-ball style than most teams do.
“I say, ‘I’m sorry,’ but I have to do it,” said Nunez, who was acquired by the Red Sox in late July. “It’s my game. We know he has a bad knee. I feel bad for him, but if I have to do it twice, I have to do it. It’s my game, it’s my job.”