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The Boston Red Sox Monday, April 24, 2017 * The Boston Globe Dustin Pedroia didn’t like the way things went down Nick Cafardo BALTIMORE — If the Red Sox were supposed to retaliate for Dustin Pedroia getting spiked on a Manny Machado slide Friday, Pedroia didn’t like the way things went down Sunday. Matt Barnes threw a pitch at Machado’s head in the eighth inning that sailed behind the Orioles third baseman and hit off his bat. Barnes was ejected immediately. Pedroia, who has not played since injuring his left leg on the slide, was then seen communicating with Machado from the dugout. He texted him later. “I just told him [Machado] I had nothing to do with that,” Pedroia said. “I just told him that’s not how you do that. I said sorry to him and his team. If you’re going to protect guys, you do it the right away. And he knows that and both teams know that, so it was definitely a mishandled situation. “There was zero chance that [Machado] was trying to hurt me. He just made a bad slide and he did hurt me. That’s just baseball, man. I’m not mad at him. I love Manny Machado. I love playing against him. I love watching him. If I slid into third base and got Manny’s knee, I’d know I’m going to get drilled. It’s baseball. I get drilled, I go to first base. That’s it,” Pedroia said. Pedroia was definitely standing up for what he perceived to be right. “I apologized to him [Machado],” Pedroia said. The rest of the verbiage from the Red Sox clubhouse was the usual stuff about not trying to throw at Machado’s head. Pedroia said he didn’t have a chance to speak to Barnes about it, but added, “He’s not trying to hit Manny in the head. It’s just a bad situation, man. That’s it. It’s not baseball.” Barnes said he understood why Machado and the Orioles would be mad at him. The Orioles, meanwhile, were praised by their manager, Buck Showalter, for showing restraint. “I was impressed with the courage we showed not to retaliate because they all wanted to do something,” Showalter said. Barnes reiterated that he would never try to hit anyone in the head. “Yeah I was trying to go in on him,” Barnes said. “The scouting report is all blue inside. If he gets extension he can drive the ball to right field. I’m trying to get in and it got away from me. I would never intentionally throw at somebody’s head. That’s a line you don’t cross. “I’m sorry it ended up that high and fortunately it didn’t hit him and he has every right to be mad.” Red Sox manager John Farrell said his argument with the umpires was that once the ball hit the bat, he thought the ball went into fair territory. He said he never disputed home plate umpire Andy Fletcher’s decision to throw Barnes out of the game. “He’s trying to throw a four-seamer above [Machado’s] hands and the pitch got away from him,” said Farrell. “Any time you see a pitch around the head it’s a dangerous pitch. There’s an area above the hands you’re trying to go to. What I saw when [Machado] ducked out of the way, the ball is in fair territory. They called dead ball immediately, but to me it looked like it was in fair territory.” Both managers tried to downplay the notion that there was bad blood. Showalter said that only "Barnes and the Lord” knew if he meant to throw at him. “I would say when you’re facing one of the best hitters in the major leagues you have to make it a little uncomfortable in the box, kind of get it up a little bit,” said Barnes. “People are going to think what they want. I was trying to go up and in and get weak contact. I would never throw at somebody’s head. That’s potentially life-changing. “I can see why they’d be upset. Anytime it comes up above the letters to anybody it’s dangerous. I’ll tell Manny I’m sorry. For that, I’m sorry I get up that high on him.” Machado, who has often come out the villain in these situations, took the high road. “You never want to get hit in the head intentionally or not,” said Machado, who when asked if he was expecting retaliation said, “I wasn’t expecting anything, no. I thought I did a good slide. That’s on them whatever happened today.” Machado said his chat with Pedroia would stay private. “Those thing stay between us,” he said. “We don’t really like to talk about it. We know what happened on the field stays between the lines.” It also appeared Red Sox starter Eduardo Rodriguez was flirting with hitting Machado when he threw consecutive pitches inside at Machado’s legs in the sixth inning. Machado eventually drew a walk. Two innings later, following Barnes’s ejection, Machado doubled off Joe Kelly. While the benches didn’t clear, Showalter stood on the field next to Machado until Barnes had exited and Kelly was warming up. Farrell said the umpires did not forewarn of possible ejections if someone got hit after Machado’s slide Friday night. We’ll see if there’s “no bad blood” when these teams face one another again May 1 at Fenway. “There’s a right way and wrong way to do things,” Orioles pitcher Kevin Gausman said. “That’s the wrong way to do it. You can kill a guy doing that.” Matt Barnes ejected for throwing at Manny Machado in Red Sox win Peter Abraham BALTIMORE — The Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles, 6-2, on Sunday, getting a strong start from Eduardo Rodriguez and a long-awaited show of power with three home runs. Salvaging the final game of the series and ending their road trip successfully before a day off should have been enough during a sunny day at Camden Yards. But the eighth inning changed all that. In what appeared to be a poorly handled attempt at retaliation, reliever Matt Barnes threw a pitch behind the head of Baltimore star Manny Machado and was ejected. The Orioles were angry. Red Sox teammate Dustin Pedroia didn’t much like it, either. Machado slid hard into Pedroia on Friday night, injuring the second baseman’s leg to a point where he has not played since. Pedroia was angry about the slide but did not want to see a dangerous pitch thrown to Machado. “It’s definitely a mishandled situation,” Pedroia said. “There was zero intention of him trying to hurt me. He just made a bad slide. He did hurt me. It’s baseball, man,” Pedroia said. “I’m not mad at him.” With the Sox up, 6-0, Barnes threw a pitch near the brim of Machado’s helmet that veered into his bat for a foul ball. Plate umpire Andy Fletcher ejected Barnes for what he deemed was intent to hit Machado. Barnes denied any malice. “I would never, ever intentionally throw at somebody’s head,” the righthander said. “That’s kind of a line that you don’t cross. I’m sorry that it kind of ended up that high. Fortunately it did not hit him. I think he probably has every right to be mad that one got loose.” Manager John Farrell claimed Barnes was trying to throw a pitch up and in. “He’s trying to go up and in and make no mistake, the ball got away from him. My comments are what they are. It’s a dangerous pitch when you get up and in there. Thankfully he didn’t get hit up in there,” Farrell said. Replays showed Christian Vazquez was set up on the outside corner of the plate, not where a catcher would be to catch a pitch inside. Major League Baseball could suspend Barnes for his actions. “People are going to think what they want. All I know is that I was trying to go up and in,” Barnes said. “Unfortunately one got away from me. I would never intentionally throw at somebody’s head. That’s potentially life-changing.” Television cameras caught Pedroia telling Machado from across the field that it wasn’t his idea. “That’s not me, that’s them,” Pedroia said. Typically in such situations, a pitcher trying to even the score would have hit Machado in the back or side the next day. Machado doubled in a run off Joe Kelly when his at-bat continued. The ruckus took attention away from Rodriguez, who threw six shutout innings. He allowed one hit, walked five, and struck out seven. Rodriguez (1-1) has a 1.34 earned run average in six starts at Camden Yards. The Orioles traded the lefthander to the Sox in 2014. “I take every field the same. I was just feeling really good,” Rodriguez said. Rodriguez was on paternity leave a week ago and missed a start. He then pitched an inning of relief on Wednesday. But he hasn’t been scored on since Ian Rodriguez came into the world. “It’s been a little bit crazy this week for me,” Rodriguez said. Rodriguez retired the first nine hitters in order, four by strikeout. He walked Craig Gentry to open the bottom of the fourth but set down the Orioles from there, striking out Mark Trumbo looking at a slider to end the inning.