series-costing game<\/a>.<\/p>\nThe first-base umpire ruled the Padres third baseman\u2019s fourth-inning ball deflection unintentional, and charged catcher Carlos Narv\u00e1ez with the second Red Sox error of the game.<\/p>\n
Machado maintained his innocence to reporters postgame, but his history with the Red Sox did him no favors. Though far from germane to Boston, his lengthy track record of controversy on the diamond is perhaps most defined by his spikes-up slide into second baseman Dustin Pedroia during a 2017 Red Sox-Orioles game. The incident sent Pedroia\u2019s decorated career into an injury-fueled tailspin and premature retirement, and the Red Sox have struggled to stabilize the position ever since.<\/p>\n
The Red Sox exacted a modicum of revenge the following year, when Machado swung so hard at a Chris Sale slider that he ended up down on one knee watching the Red Sox celebrate winning the 2018 World Series. The moment came one round after a Dodgers-Brewers NLCS in which Machado dominated the headlines for telling on-field reporter Ken Rosenthal, \u201cI\u2019m not the type of player that\u2019s going to be \u2018Johnny Hustle\u2019 and run down the line and slide to first base,\u201d for a pair of hard slides into Milwaukee Brewers shortstop Orlando Arcia, and for stepping on the ankle of first baseman Jes\u00fas Aguilar as he ran to first on a groundout. The Aguilar incident prompted Brewers star Christian Yelich to tell reporters, \u201cDirty play by a dirty player,\u201d in a scrum peppered with expletives aimed at Machado.<\/p>\n
But no trophy could change the fact that Pedroia played just three games in 2018 and six more in 2019. He underwent six knee surgeries before he officially announced his retirement in February 2021, months before the final season of an eight-year contract extension of which he barely got to play half.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think about it all the time,\u201d Pedroia said of the Machado incident, in a 2018 conversation with WEEI\u2019s Rob Bradford.<\/p>\n
Thus, Machado was booed relentlessly throughout the weekend and as he rounded the bases after hitting his go-ahead homer in the fifth inning Sunday.<\/p>\n
SUNdefeated<\/p>\n
Ceddanne Rafaela has developed a reputation for making the most impossible catches in center field.<\/p>\n
The downside of such reliability is that even the smallest miscue seems shocking by comparison.<\/p>\n
Such as the Fernando Tatis Jr. two-out double that sailed over Rafaela\u2019s head with two outs in the top of the ninth and the game tied 2-2 on Saturday. The San Diego Padres ultimately triumphed, 3-2, thanks to a Ram\u00f3n Laureano RBI single.<\/p>\n
Rafaela also lost an otherwise surefire catch in the blinding afternoon sunlight during Friday\u2019s home opener.<\/p>\n
But manager Alex Cora took a brighter view, literally.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou cannot beat the sun,\u201d Cora said Sunday morning. \u201cI mean, the sun is like 10 million wins, no losses, right? It\u2019s been there forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he\u2019s the best defender in center field,\u201d he added. \u201cI\u2019ll take my chances every time he\u2019s out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Red Sox injury updates<\/p>\n
Left-hander Patrick Sandoval (elbow) will make his first rehab start Wednesday in Triple-A Worcester, after his original Sunday game with Double-A Portland was postponed due to rain.<\/p>\n
Right-hander Kutter Crawford (wrist) threw an up-and-down on the field at Fenway on Sunday morning. He is slated to begin a rehab assignment in the next week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you\u2019re surprised by the Red Sox\u2019s dismal 2-7 start to the 2026 season, you\u2019re not alone. \u201cWe…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":665521,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2375],"tags":[5,141,48,2542,1396,4768,1527,4,89,2543,793],"class_list":{"0":"post-665520","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boston-red-sox","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-boston","10":"tag-boston-red-sox","11":"tag-bostonredsox","12":"tag-ceddanne-rafaela","13":"tag-dustin-pedroia","14":"tag-manny-machado","15":"tag-mlb","16":"tag-red-sox","17":"tag-redsox","18":"tag-roman-anthony"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116354954573146854","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=665520"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665520\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/665521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=665520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=665520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=665520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}