BALTIMORE — Futile against the Yankees all season long in their own home, the Orioles turned on each other Wednesday night.
A brutal, 14-2 loss to their chief AL East rivals, played in front of a sparse Camden Yards that featured primarily Yankees fans, hit a low point in the middle of the fifth inning when high-priced bust Chris Davis had to be restrained by teammates as he tried to go after his manager, Brandon Hyde, in the home dugout.
Davis, hitting .182/.269/.320 on the season with nine home runs in 247 at-bats, was immediately removed from the game by Hyde. Often affable, accessible and accountable, Davis didn’t make himself available to the media afterward.
“It was just a disagreement we had in the dugout,” said Hyde, who’s in his first season as Buck Showalter’s successor. “What was said and what we talked about, I’m not going to get into. We’re going to keep it in house. It’s private.
“But it was something that happens sometimes. Frustration boils over a little bit when we’re not playing our best baseball the last couple of games. And unfortunately, I’m embarrassed that it was caught on camera and people had to see it. But sometimes those things happen.”
Here's what the MASN cameras caught of the Chris Davis-Brandon Hyde interaction:
Appears Hyde said something Davis didn't appreciate, then Davis had to be held back by hitting coach Don Long and Mark Trumbo. pic.twitter.com/4GTaePor2Y
— Zach Silver (@zachsilver) August 8, 2019
Said Mark Trumbo, another disappointing veteran currently on the injured list who held Davis back, “This game was particularly tough. Almost nothing went our way. Everybody was pretty frustrated and those things tend to happen. Hopefully they don’t happen in front of everybody, but in this case, they kind of did. Not ideal, but not that big a deal.”
With the loss, the O’s finished 0-10 against the Yankees for the season here in Charm City, and this one was replete with ugliness. Baltimore committed two errors and threw three wild pitches. In the top of the fifth, when the Yankees scored two runs to boost their lead to 6-1, Davis fielded a Brett Gardner grounder and casually flipped it from his glove, without transferring hands, to Miguel Castro for the out. While it’s not clear whether that silly-looking play ticked off Hyde, the kerfuffle occurred right after that inning, as the player and manager exchanged words until Hyde, walking away, said something that set off Davis. Orioles hitting coach Don Long teamed with Trumbo to hold and calm down Davis.
“We had words and I took him out of the game,” Hyde said. “Me and Chris have a good relationship. These things happen in competitive environments. It’s something that’ll pass. We’ll get through it. It’s just unfortunate it happened in the dugout.”
It proved fitting, though, for what has been a most unfortunate Orioles season.
