White Sox-Royals rivalry ramps up after spirited opening day matchup
A 10-1 loss to the Royals was not the start Jeff Samardzija and the new-look Chicago White Sox were looking for, and they may have ramped up a pre-existing rivalry in the process.
Samardzija, making the opening day start in place of the injured Chris Sale, plunked Royals center fielder Lorenzo Cain with a 93 mph fastball in the fifth inning right after giving up a homer to Mike Moustakas. Cain and his Kansas City teammates found the timing by an obviously frustrated Samardzija awfully suspicious.
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“I gave him a look,” Cain told Kansas City reporters. “I wasn’t sure if he hit me on purpose or not. But once he told me to get down, I was sure he hit me on purpose. It’s straight to the point. He hit me on purpose. But beating him the way we did today, it definitely makes up for that.”
Samardzija denied that the beaning was intentional, though he likely wouldn’t have said otherwise as there is precedent for suspending a pitcher for admitting to have deliberately hit a batter. In the end, the 30-year-old right-hander, who was traded to Chicago in the offseason, gave up five runs over six innings in a rough first outing with the White Sox.
We’re one game into a new season and two division rivals are already at each other. Welcome back, baseball.
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Israel Fehr is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr
