DETROIT -- Before the Detroit Tigers' bullpen blew up another strong outing from a starting pitcher Sunday night, and before David Ortiz showed again how he is drawn to a big moment, all eyes in the Detroit and Boston clubhouses were locked into the televised drama playing out miles from here, in Baltimore.
The players watched replay after replay of Manny Machado flinging his bat after a couple of inside pitches, at the end of a weekend of dust-ups between Machado and the Oakland Athletics.
"Manny's got some things to learn," said one player here in Detroit, shaking his head.
As always, the situation almost certainly has more layers than meets the eye. Machado has had a long road back from knee surgery and has miles to go, it appears; he does not look comfortable in his movements and his performance has suffered this season. His initial anger Friday at what he perceived to be a hard tag from Josh Donaldson likely stems from a sensitivity to the sort of awkward movement that initially led to him being hurt.
But when Major League Baseball renders a penalty in the next 48 to 72 hours, league officials cannot and should not worry about any of that. It's their responsibility to send a message that throwing a bat is unacceptable and potentially very dangerous.
Trot Nixon was suspended four games for throwing a bat at Ryan Rupe in 2002; here's the video of the incident. But my guess is that Machado will get a stronger suspension than that -- perhaps six games. In recent years, MLB has toughened the penalties on pitchers deemed to be throwing at hitters on purpose, so that it's pretty much standard for them to get at least six games -- like Brandon Workman, who threw behind Evan Longoria 10 days ago and will have his appeal of a six-game suspension heard Friday.
If a pitcher gets six games -- and Fernando Abad of the Oakland Athletics should get that, because the umpires determined that he was trying to hit Machado -- a hitter throwing a bat should get a comparable penalty. At least.
Presumably, in the days ahead, the Baltimore staff and players will talk to Machado, to make him understand that at the outset of the series, it really wasn't personal for the Oakland players -- but it became that because of Machado's actions, from throwing his helmet to showing no remorse on a backswing that hit the catcher to throwing his bat.
Machado said that the bat slipped out of his hands, which actually is kind of funny, because we hear so many pitchers make similar comments after drilling hitters -- that the ball just slipped, or that they were just trying to pitch inside.
Here are more comments from Machado.
It got pretty intense for awhile, as Susan Slusser writes.
Lost in the controversy is the fact that Ubaldo Jimenez continues to struggle; his ERA is 5.01.
• Tigers manager Brad Ausmus wouldn't say whether Joe Nathan was available to close Sunday night after throwing 32 pitches Saturday, but the fact that Nathan was in the dugout in the seventh was a pretty strong sign that Joba Chamberlain would get a chance to close out Boston. Chamberlain was to be stand-in for a night, but because of Nathan's struggles, his 7.04 ERA, maybe it was also a mini-audition, in case a change at closer is needed.
And it went very badly. Chamberlain threw almost nothing but sliders and Ortiz said after the game that he was looking for a slider, and he absolutely crushed a slider for a three-run homer in the ninth inning. Ortiz talked about his approach after the game.
In the ninth innings of games this year, the Tigers have allowed 46 runs in 51 1/3 innings. (Yes, those numbers are real.) Detroit is capable of dominant starting pitching, and the Tigers have the best 3-4 lineup combination in the majors in Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez, but right now, their bullpen is providing hope for the rest of the AL Central.
In a roundabout way -- because Detroit's relievers have lost games that should've been won -- the struggles of the bullpen contributed to the Twins' decision to sign Kendrys Morales. The rest of the division can look at that vulnerability to understand why a team this talented has drifted back to the pack.
Ortiz came to the rescue for the Red Sox, as Peter Abraham writes.
From the Elias Sports Bureau and ESPN Stats & Information: Ortiz hit his 16th career go-ahead homer in the ninth inning or later, tied with Albert Pujols for the third most among active players. It was also Ortiz's fifth career go-ahead home run in the ninth inning or later when his team was trailing, tied with Dwight Evans for the most by a Red Sox player since 1938.
In Sunday's game, the Red Sox seemed to get back to doing what they did a lot last year -- grinding out at-bats, forcing the opposing pitcher to throw a lot of pitches. Anibal Sanchez started for the Tigers and, as always, he had really good stuff, but the Red Sox -- benefiting from the return of Mike Napoli -- drove his pitch count to 87 through four innings. And Napoli became the first player to hit a home run off Sanchez this season.
Ortiz has haunted the Tigers. The Tigers lack a strong finish.
Around the league
• The Giants just never lose. Ever. They swept the Mets, as John Shea writes. This is a team with effective depth.
Tim Lincecum fills an important role for the Giants, writes Mark Purdy. The Giants are 42-21, and on pace for 108 wins.
• Jordan Zimmermann was very close to perfect, writes Adam Kilgore, and the Nationals continue to build momentum.
From ESPN Stats & Info, how Zimmermann shut out the Padres.
A. Hitters were 2-for-22 with career-high nine strikeouts with only one hard-hit ball in at-bats ending in his fastball.
B. He had 20 outs recorded with his fastball, tied for second most in his career.
C. Recorded career-high 15 swings and misses with fastball; hitters chased 15 fastballs out of the strike zone, tied for second most in his career.
• For the Rays, the losing continues: Grant Balfour allowed five runs in the ninth inning. From Marc Topkin's story:
Grant Balfour didn't really have any answers after his latest ninth-inning collapse, turning a scoreless game -- with two outs, nobody on and two strikes on a .167 hitter -- into a 5-0 mess of a loss Sunday.
But Rays manager Joe Maddon had a curious one when asked if they were going to stick with the struggling Balfour, and his 6.46 ERA, as their closer:
"He's our closer as of today," Maddon replied.
Was that to suggest a change, to Jake McGee or Juan Carlos Oviedo or someone else, was coming? Maddon -- who always talks to players first about job shifts -- said only, "Even if I was going to change anything, I wouldn't tell you guys anyhow."
• Incredibly, the Rangers lost another player for the season -- Mitch Moreland.
Here are the options that the Rangers have, from Gerry Fraley.
Moves, deals and decisions
1. Ken Giles was summoned to the big leagues by the Phillies.
2. Andrew Heaney's promotion looms.
Dings and dents
1. Gerrit Cole says his shoulder is not a huge issue.
2. Henderson Alvarez avoided serious injury.
3. Francisco Cervelli is taking grounders at first base.
4. Clay Buchholz is making progress.
5. Collin McHugh is battling a blister.
6. Matt Holliday has back pain.
7. The Reds have a couple of stars coming back from injury.
8. Yasiel Puig was not in the lineup.
9. Andrew Cashner is feeling OK.
Sunday's games
1. The Pirates were shut out.
2. The young guns teamed up for the Astros offense, as Evan Drellich writes.
3. James Shields was "the man" for the Royals.
4. Homer Bailey shut down the Phillies.
5. The White Sox were swept.
6. Arizona won a series at home, writes Zach Buchanan.
7. Toronto was shut out again.
AL West
Felix was crazy good Sunday, as Ryan Divish writes.
From ESPN Stats & Info, how Felix Hernandez dominated the Rays.
A. He threw changeup on 42 percent of his pitches, his highest percentage in the past six seasons.
B. Rays hitters were 0-for-13 with 10 strikeouts in at-bats ending in his changeup, the most strikeouts and outs he has recorded with that pitch in the past six seasons.
C. He induced swings on 14 of the changeups out of the strike zone, his second most in the past six seasons.
D. This season, Hernandez has induced 124 chases out of the zone with his changeup, second most in MLB (Jason Vargas, 130).
From ESPN Stats & Info: Hernandez got a tough-luck no decision. He's only the fifth pitcher in the division era to get a no-decision when throwing seven scoreless innings with at least 15 strikeouts.
• Mike Zunino earned some praise.
• Here is a breakdown of the Astros' picks.
• C.J. Wilson finished off the White Sox.
AL Central
• Eric Hosmer made a game-saving play.
• Lonnie Chisenhall is hitting everything in sight, writes Paul Hoynes.
• Jose Abreu has been struggling.
• The Twins are contending and Tom Powers can't wrap his mind around that. The signing of Morales was a hit with the players.
AL East
• The Yankees' lineup was shut down, as old friend Pat Borzi writes.
• Masahiro Tanaka is going to face Hisashi Iwakuma.
• Grady Sizemore understands he has to produce.
• For Derek Jeter, the struggles continue: His OPS is down to .612, which ranks 154th out of 167 players. He is 164th of 167 in slugging percentage. He has two extra-base hits in the past 32 days.
NL West
• The Rockies are spiraling.
• The Dodgers know they have to keep pace with the Giants.
NL Central
• Yovani Gallardo shut down the Pirates.
• Starling Marte's slump continues, as Dejan Kovacevic writes. You do wonder if Marte will be headed to the minors, in spite of his long-term contract, whenever Gregory Polanco is summoned, with Josh Harrison moving to left field.
• The Cardinals had a big weekend in Toronto.
• The Cubs' winning streak ended.
• Emilio Bonifacio has been doing the job at the top of the lineup.
NL East
• Ian Desmond hit a monster homer the other day.
• Mark Bradley has some suggestions for the Atlanta lineup.
• The Phillies hit bottom and can't get any worse, writes Ryan Lawrence. I'd respectfully disagree. Assuming that this is a lost season, they appear to have a long, long rebuilding process ahead of them.
• The Mets were swept. Their bright future has clouded up quickly, writes Kevin Kernan.
• An adjustment is paying off for Evan Gattis, writes David O'Brien.
Lastly
• Vanderbilt is headed to the College World Series, as Nick Cole writes. They win when necessary, says David Climer.
And today will be better than yesterday.