Ubaldo Jimenez was wild yet again on Tuesday night, hitting Angles second baseman Howie Kendrick in the second inning on his way to allowing eight runs in four innings. Jimenez has been the wildest pitcher in the MLB this season, so it should be expected he'd get a bit too inside at least once per game.
Which is possibly why manager Manny Acta was so upset with what he felt was unnecessary retaliation by the Angels, when starter Zach Grienke hit Carlos Santana on the hip in the fourth inning. Intentional or not, Grienke was given merely a warning, precluding the Indians from even thinking about about retaliating in turn.
From the Cleveland Plain Dealer:
"I understand that the umpires are just trying to cover themselves, but that's just not right," said Acta. "The rule says that if you know, and you're sure that a guy hit a guy on purpose, you can throw him out of the game. He knew he hit him on purpose.
"If the umpire considered that he hit him on the purpose, what's the ruling? So now he puts a warning so we can't retaliate? That's not fair."
It was a frustrating night for Acta and Indians, with Jimenez lasting just four innings and Cleveleand eventually losing 9-6 to the Angels. The Angels stated that Grienke's pitch was far from retaliation and was merely an instance of an inside pitch getting away from the star pitcher.
The Indians face the Angels again tonight at 10:05 p.m. ET.
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