San Diego Padres manager Jayce Tingler launched into a strong defense of Manny Machado over the third baseman's controversial slide on Sunday night.
Machado received some criticism for a slide into Cardinals second baseman Tommy Edman. Machado slid into Edman as he was preparing to throw, although they were nowhere near the base.
Machado never actually left the basepath, so no rules were broken. It didn’t stop the accusations of Machado being dirty.
Tingler wasn’t having it. He criticized the “narrative” around Machado and said he praised his third baseman for making a winning play.
Machado comes with a reputation for making dirty plays. Tingler is right that there’s a narrative here, although it isn’t undeserved. Nevertheless, if this was someone other than Machado, this play probably doesn’t even get a second look. Even Edman seemed fine with it based on his reaction as he was getting up.
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