Wade Miley and John Farrell had a heated exchange Thursday. (MLB.tv screen grab)
The Red Sox have dropped the first two games of their series with the Orioles and, thanks in part to Wade Miley, they lost the third game as well on Thursday night (BAL 6, BOS 5). Miley surrendered five runs on nine hits in four innings, including three home runs.
After being removed from the game, television cameras caught Miley and manager John Farrell in a shouting match in the dugout. You can see video of the argument right here. After the game, Farrell played the exchange off and chalked it up to competitiveness:
Farrell on Miley: “He’s a competitor. He doesn’t want to come out of the ballgame. I fully respect that. … We’ve had a chance to talk.”
— Brian MacPherson (@brianmacp) June 12, 2015
Farrell on Miley: “There’s fight in him. There’s fight in us.”
— Brian MacPherson (@brianmacp) June 12, 2015
As Farrell said, Miley was upset about being removed from the game. Long man Steven Wright was warming in the bullpen at the start of the fourth inning, before Miley allowed his fifth run of the game.
This is not the first time Miley has had a run-in with his manager in the dugout. He got into a heated exchange with then-manager Kirk Gibson after being removed from a game early last September while with the Diamondbacks. From Michael Wagaman of the San Diego Union Tribune:
Kirk Gibson and pitcher Wade Miley got into a heated exchange in the dugout when the Diamondbacks manager sent up a pinch-hitter in the third inning, ending Miley’s night.
The situation never escalated beyond yelling, and afterward both men downplayed the confrontation as an ordinary argument between manager and player.
…
“I just wanted to stay in the game and correct it. That was what I was most frustrated about,” Miley said. “Everybody in the stadium knew I was struggling to find it. My arm felt really, really good — the best it’s felt in a while. I just wanted to go back out.”
It’s not surprising Farrell downplayed the incident after the game. He wasn’t going to throw Miley under the bus. That said, the Red Sox are underachieving in a big way this season, and frustration could be boiling over.
(Screen grab via @brianmacp)
This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.
