Orioles pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez was ejected Friday night after hitting Red Sox third baseman Pablo Sandoval in the right shoulder with a pitch.
Home plate umpire Jordan Baker judged the fourth-inning pitch was intentional, perhaps believing it was in retaliation for a questionable takeout slide by Sandoval into second base earlier in the game.
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Crew chief Jerry Meals said that Jordan Baker noticed that #Orioles dugout reacted to Sandoval slide, giving him reason think retaliation.
— Eduardo A. Encina (@EddieInTheYard) April 18, 2015Baker tossed Jimenez without issuing a warning to either dugout.
Jimenez had not allowed a hit before the ejection. In fact, he was pitching on the five-year anniversary of his 2010 no-hitter for the Rockies against the Braves in Atlanta. He walked six batters and threw 128 pitches that night. On Friday, he was headed for a similar stat line with three walks in 3 2/3 innings.
Baltimore led 1-0 at the time of the ejection. Chris Davis' RBI groundout scored Travis Snider in the top of the fourth. The Red Sox won 3-2 on an RBI single by Xander Bogaerts in the bottom of the ninth.
UPDATE, 11:45 p.m.: Jimenez denied throwing at Sandoval.
Ubaldo:"If I hit him in the head, that’s a thing you might say, ‘OK, it looked like it was on purpose.’ But it was in the shoulder" #Orioles
— Eduardo A. Encina (@EddieInTheYard) April 18, 2015Ubaldo: "There’s no history, I’m cool with Pablo outside of baseball. You can ask him. It’s part of the game, trying to make pitches inside"
— Eduardo A. Encina (@EddieInTheYard) April 18, 2015Sandoval told reporters there was no malicious intent to his slide into Baltimore second baseman Jonathan Schoop. “It’s part of the game,” Sandoval said, according to The Boston Globe. “You want to be aggressive running the bases out there.”