![Yankees Orioles]()
Whether it was a genuine defense of his player, or a tactic to spark a lineup that's only produced three runs during a four-game losing streak, Baltimore Orioles skipper Brandon Hyde was beyond incensed. The O's have all but lost their grip on their AL East lead over the New York Yankees, with just two losses now separating them after the Pinstripes' 4-1 win in Baltimore on Friday night.
That's why Hyde's actions here are so off-the-wall. Yankees pitcher Clay Holmes certainly
shouldn't be trying to serve up a beanball to Heston Kjerstad with a three-run lead in the ninth inning. I'm not sure that was the full point behind Hyde screaming at the New York dugout, triggering both benches to empty onto the field at Camden Yards.
https://twitter.com/TheBirdlandBeat/status/1811944659825971605
https://twitter.com/TalkinYanks/status/1811945168913703181
Quite the startling sound when Kjerstad got drilled. Scary stuff. Rainy conditions could easily be to blame for Holmes' errant throw. He's had great command for most of the season, having struck out 40 batters in 38.1 innings with only eight walks. Thankfully, it appears Kjerstad will be OK. As for why Hyde decided to escalate things, he had some interesting postgame comments:
https://twitter.com/JakeDRill/status/1811982324516507661
Not sure popping off at the other dugout exactly captures the good-faith spirit of "competitive energy" Hyde refers to. The silver lining is that the Orioles have two more cracks at the Yanks this weekend before the All-Star break. It's hard to say if Hyde's blow-up will ignite a spark, or prove to be rather inconsequential in the grand scheme of things — as is often the case in one game of a 162-game season. No offense, MLB! These are just objective, mathematical facts.
Baltimore can wrest back the momentum if their bats wake up. There's a chance build a bit more of a cushion atop the division. Easier said than done, of course, considering how much the team has slumped of late.
At southpaw89 on X had a compelling piece of data that shows a larger trend of the Yankees hitting opposing batsmen.
https://twitter.com/southpaw89/status/1811946461502013444
As Captain America once said, that's some heavy-duty conjecture. I'm really not linking the two. At least this hit by pitch didn't seem to be on purpose. But hey, it gave us an entertaining dust-up and furthered a divisional rivalry, so in that context, maybe Hyde did the right thing after all.
