Humberto Quintero drills opponent in stomach with bizarre throwing attempt
Former major leaguer Humberto Quintero, who’s now catching for the Boston Red Sox Triple-A affiliate in Pawtucket, made a strange and uncomfortable attempt to draw an interference call on Luke Maile of the Durham Bulls on Friday night.
At least we hope that’s what he was trying to do.
With Maile in the batter’s box, Quintero received the pitch and then turned toward third base in an apparent attempt to throw out Mikie Mahtook, who was attempting to steal the bag. However, instead of stepping around Maile to make his throw, Quintero fired it right at Maile’s midsection, nailing him in the abdomen.
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Ouch.
As seen in the video, Quintero immediately pleads his case for interference. Home plate umpire Chad Whitson disagreed, ruling that Maile held his ground and didn’t attempt to interfere. It’s a judgment call for the umpire to determine what the batter’s intentions were, and here it’s clear that Maile stayed put.
As for Quintero’s intentions. Those speak for themselves. He knew exactly where he was throwing that baseball. Some will call that a dirty play. Others will call it an attempt to plant a seed in the batter’s mind. That maybe next time he’ll actually take a step back, which would then lead to an interference call. Only Quintero knows the motivation, but the baseball found its intended target.
It’s reported that Quintero continuing lobbying for an interference call and possibly held a grudge throughout the game. In fact, in the eighth inning, he was involved in another controversial play on a hard slide at second base.
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According to DRaysBay, Quintero went in hard on Hak-Ju Lee, whose career was setback two years ago when a similar slide ruined his knee. Needless to say, that was not well received by Durham, which led to the benches clearing.
Here’s a look.
Definitely a hard slide, but also seemingly necessary given Quintero’s lack of foot speed. We’ll give him the benefit of the doubt this time, though next time he should look to avoid such contact shortly after pegging an opponent in the stomach. .
By the way, for those interested in baseball results, Durham went on to win the game 5-1 behind a three-run homer from another veteran catcher, J.P. Arencibia.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
