Benches cleared Saturday, but A’s beef with Sampson started during a Rangers win in June
Tempers flared Saturday night at Oakland Coliseum as a petty dispute from a June game between the Texas Rangers and Oakland A’s came to a head in a 5-4 A’s victory.
Both benches cleared in the eighth inning, and Rangers pitcher Rafael Montero was ejected for hitting A’s center fielder Ramon Laureano. Rangers manager Chris Woodward was also ejected.
But there was so much more to it than just that one incident, and right-hander Adrian Sampson was the pitcher who had the Laureano and Mark Canha steaming.
The Rangers are hoping Round 2 doesn’t come Sunday in the series finale.
“You never know,” Woodward said. “It might. I hope not.”
Many Rangers players weren’t familiar with why Laureano and Canha had a beef with Sampson and found out only after things transpired.
Flash back to June 8, when Sampson tossed the best game of his career in a 3-1 complete-game win over the A’s. The lone Oakland run was a Canha homer, and Sampson said afterward that he felt Canha was “disrespectful” as he watched the home run.
Canha took except to Sampson’s remark the next day, while Laureano alleged that Sampson had intentionally stepped on his bat following an inning-ending out.
Those two A’s got their revenge Saturday.
“He should have known he had that coming after his comments and his actions last time,” Canha said. “This guy kind of had a target on his back. We were fired up to face him today.”
Canha hit a home run in the second inning and ran the bases as if he had just won the game. He was shouting and giving enthusiastic elbow bumps to teammates as he headed to the dugout.
“He did that same thing last time, whenever that was,” Sampson said. “I guess that’s what they do here.”
Sampson plunked Canha in the fourth.
“I didn’t know about the beginning of everything, but I was like, ‘Well, as a hitter, you know if you start pimping balls after you hit a homer, there’s going to be consequences,’” shortstop Elvis Andrus said. “So at that point, it’s a man’s sport in here. If I was a pitcher, I’d be pretty pissed off if you freaking pimp a homer in the first inning.”
Laureano also connected off Sampson, this one in the sixth, and gestured toward his bat while yelling at Sampson.
“I told him, “Remember you stepped on my bat?’” Laureano said. “’Here. You can step on it again.’”
Sampson moved toward Laureano as he ran toward first base, and players came out of both dugouts but didn’t storm the field.
“If you watch the tape you see how long he stared at it and was yelling at me,” Sampson said. “I let him know I was ready to go, and he just kept running. I just tried to move on and get the next couple guys out and give our guys a chance to put some runs on the board.”
The umpires issued warnings that the next hit-by-pitch would result in an ejection.
That came in the eighth, when Montero hit Laureano above the elbow with a fastball. Laureano started yelling at Montero and moved in front of the plate to bring out players from each dugout and bullpen.
Woodward said afterward that he sent pitching coach Julio Rangel to the mound a few pitches earlier to warn Montero to speed up his delivery so that Canha, who had walked, didn’t steal second base.
It was not intentional, Woodward said.
“We’re trying to win a game,” he said. “I did not want another base runner.”
Montero confirmed that Rangel told him to speed up the delivery. When a pitcher does that, though, especially a sinker-baller, he risks throwing pitches inside.
“My sinker always runs tight,” Montero said. “That’s normal for me, It was running tight, and I hit him.”
But the benches cleared nonetheless, and among those who exchanged words were Rangers third baseman Asdrubal Cabrera and former Rangers infielder Jurickson Profar. The Rangers didn’t know what had Profar so irked.
“I always say, ‘If you’re not in it, be quiet,’” Andrus said.
Woodward defended Sampson’s reaction to Laureano’s display.
“If you are going to celebrate a home run, you have to expect a reaction from the pitcher if you do that,” Woodward said. “I know there is a little bit of history, but if you do that you have to expect a reaction.”
This story was originally published July 28, 2019 at 12:15 AM.
