Rangers reaction after Blue Jays’ Jose Bautista finally got a message: Don’t Mess with Texas

If you’re just joining us, a brief recap.

The saga between the Texas Rangers and Toronto Blue Jays, which ended Sunday in violent fashion, actually began on Oct. 14, 2015.

That was the day Jose Bautista flipped his bat up in the air theatrically after sending a Sam Dyson pitch over the wall for a go-ahead, three-run homer in Game 5 of the American League Division Series.

The Jays, of course, won the game to send the Rangers home for the winter.

Ever since, fans and media alike have wondered whether the Rangers would send a message to Bautista the next time the teams met.

Four games passed in Toronto in early May without a hint of reprisal. Then the first two games at Globe Life Park went without incident, although Rangers fans booed vociferously each time Bautista stepped in the batter’s box.

The whole affair had nearly been skipped altogether until Matt Bush, the 30-year-old rookie just up two days prior, hit him with his first pitch in the eighth inning. It turned ugly moments later when Bautista’s illegal slide took out second baseman Rougned Odor, who retaliated with a shove and a quick hook to Bautista’s face.

Both benches cleared and by the end of the day eight players and coaches had been ejected. So much for the bat flip being forgotten. Here’s how both teams viewed the incident, which surely will lead to multiple-game suspensions and cost several players hefty fines:

1. There’s nothing to see here — Rangers manager Jeff Banister denied the pitch was thrown purposely at Bautista. Common sense would tend to make you agree since it put the tying run on in the eighth inning.

“I’m sure that there was adrenaline flowing, he’s been here for a few nights, he’s seen the intensity level [and is] nowhere near perfect,” Banister said of Bush. “I’m not going to entertain the thought that that was anything other than we’re trying to get outs. To think that we’re going to put the tying run on base on purpose? I’m sorry.”

Bush declined to comment when asked if it was a purpose pitch. Dyson claimed there’s more animosity between the two fan bases than the two teams.

“It’s probably more so for fans, we’re out there trying to win every day,” he said. “If you’re going to read into it you can write whatever you want, but don’t tell them I said it.”

2. We all know what happened — Toronto manager John Gibbons, who was actually tossed from the game in the third inning along with his first-base coach Tim Leiper, was convinced along with his players that Bush’s pitch was retribution for Bautista’s bat flip seven months ago.

“To me, it was gutless. The other 29 teams, they come at you right away, but to wait until the end, it just sort of tells you something,” he said. “If what happened last year bothers you that much, you usually take it up.”

Gibbons went right after Banister’s argument that the game situation precluded the Rangers from putting Bautista on.

“Everybody is going to say ‘Oh, it was a one-run game. The ball got away.’ The guys who play the game know better. That ain’t going to fly,” he said.

3. The verdict — It’s hard to believe that Bush, who had shown complete control in the first 35 pitches of his major league career (including 17 on Friday night) would suddenly lose it on his first pitch to Bautista. It was a 97 mph fastball that struck Bautista on a straight line. Bush, incidentally, earned the win Sunday, his first in the big leagues. If Bush did hit Bautista on purpose, he most certainly didn’t do it on his own. When asked directly about the pitch, he declined to comment. Bush said he was watching and pulling for the Rangers when Bautista sent his bat in the air last October.

That was two months before he signed a minor league deal with the Rangers.

“It was two good teams battling in the playoffs last year,” Gibbons said. “We were down 2-0 and came back and won three straight. I thought all that was behind us, but apparently not. But to go down to the last at-bat, I don’t know about that.”

This story was originally published May 15, 2016 at 10:35 PM with the headline "Rangers reaction after Blue Jays’ Jose Bautista finally got a message: Don’t Mess with Texas."