Manny Machado was at home watching MLB Network Tuesday night when Eric Byrnes and Dan Plesac were discussing the seemingly retaliatory pitch up and in on Jake Marisnick as the Los Angeles Angels played the Houston Astros.
It was a direct response to Marisnick’s scary play at the plate against Jonathan Lucroy last week, and not surprisingly it led to the benches clearing in the sixth inning.
As Machado watched things unfold, he was streaming live on social media and expressed some serious frustration about how the narrative was unfolding. Byrnes and Plesac were upset about the Angels retaliating against Marisnick, which rubbed Machado the wrong way.
During his live broadcast, Machado not-so-subtly hinted that the reason Marisnick was being backed by the MLB Network analysts had everything to do with the color of his skin.
Machado said that when he’s been plunked in retaliation, analysts have said he deserved to get hit. He is clearly not happy with what he feels is a double standard.
It will be interesting to see if MLB chimes in on this conversation, like it did when Justin Verlander accused the league of juicing balls.