Wrapping up a controversial pitch and a 6-2 loss

The Orioles lost a game today, but kept their third baseman in one piece.

A 6-2 loss to the Red Sox before an announced crowd of 35,522 at Camden Yards was overshadowed by a pitch from reliever Matt Barnes in the eighth inning that sailed behind Manny Machado's head.

The pitch, clocked at 90 mph, appeared to hit Machado until replays showed that it actually ricocheted off his bat. Plate umpire Andy Fletcher ejected Barnes, Red Sox manager John Farrell argued and Machado was sent back to the plate to face Joe Kelly.

Machado slid into Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia Friday night, spikes high, and got an earful from Kelly, among other Boston players. Pedroia missed the next two games with soreness in his knee and ankle and will undergo an MRI on Monday.

A MASN camera caught an exchange between Pedroia and Machado, who knelt on the on-deck circle as Kelly warmed up. Machado pointed to his head and Pedroia appeared to tell Machado, "That's not me."

Pedroia also seemed to indicate that retaliation would have come in Machado's first at-bat yesterday, saying, "You know that and I know that."

"That's not me," Pedroia said, "that's them."

Machado stepped into the box against Kelly and launched the first pitch over center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr.'s head for an RBI double.

Machado batted again with two on and two outs in the ninth and popped up against Craig Kimbrel to end the game.

Manager Buck Showalter took one question about starter Kevin Gausman, who allowed four runs in the first inning before recording an out. Then came the Machado inquiries and a further testing of his patience.

Barnes denied that the pitch was intentional. Farrell said the ball slipped.

Showalter's thoughts?

"I'll let everybody else ... We're not getting involved in that stuff," he said. "We've done it since I've been here. We'll continue to do it. We all have our personal feelings about it.

"I really respect the courage our players had today. I challenge you to get back in the batter's box and hit a breaking ball off the center field wall after that. The courage it takes not to retaliate a lot of times in life is a lot more challenging than doing what ended up happening today.

"The pitch was there. Whether he threw at him or not, I'll let him and the good Lord answer. I'm not going to get into that.

"Let all of you weigh in on all that stuff. There were a lot of factors that drove what happened out there today, and I'm sure you guys will expound on that because that's what they want you all to do."

Showalter didn't know whether the pitch hit Machado. He came out of the dugout as Farrell continued to argue.

"I wasn't sure," he said. "I wasn't going to go in. I felt like I needed to be there with Manny. So I had Kirb (Wayne Kirby) go in there with J.R. (John Russell) to check the replay, and they said it hit the bat and then Manny. So they got it right."

The Orioles still have 14 games remaining against the Red Sox, including a second trip to Fenway Park May 1-4.

"It's two good teams competing for something that a lot of teams really want and they have the passion, and when things like that get going into it, that's unfortunate," Showalter said. "I was really impressed with the courage that our guys showed today because they all, believe me, trust me, wanted to do something about it. Takes a lot more sometimes to do that."

Pedroia clearly was upset by the pitch.

"I just told him I didn't have anything to do with that," Pedroia told reporters. "That's not how you do that, man. I'm sorry to him and his team. If you're going to protect guys, you do it right away. He knows that, we both know that. It's definitely a mishandled situation. There was zero intention of him trying to hurt me. He just made a bad slide. He did hurt me. It's baseball, man.

"I'm not mad at him. I love Manny Machado. I love playing against him. I love watching him. If I slid into third base and got Manny's knee, I know I'm going to get drilled and I go to first base. That's it."

Farrell had the best spin on any pitch thrown today.

"He's trying to take a four-seamer in above his hands and the pitch got away from him," Farrell said, ignoring how catcher Christian Vázquez was set up on the outer half of the plate. "I think any time you see a pitch up around the head, it's a dangerous pitch. No one likes to see it.

"There's an area in above the hands you're trying to go to. Unfortunately, it does get away from him in that spot. He's trying to go up and in and, make no mistake, the ball got away from him. My comments are what they are. It's a dangerous pitch when you get up and in there. Thankfully, he didn't get hit up in there."

Chris Davis would like a minute for rebuttal.

"I think it was completely obvious," Davis said. "I haven't seen a guy miss that bad in a while. Behind a guy's head, I don't think there was any question about it."

Gausman got hit hard in the first inning, with Mookie Betts belting a three-run homer and Hanley Ramirez crushing the next pitch and sending it into the left field seats before an out was recorded.

Gausman lasted 5 1/3 innings after working only 2 2/3 against the Reds. He allowed five runs today, and threw fewer pitches than in his last start.

"It was better, a little better," Showalter said. "He wasn't very crisp early, and they made him pay for it. You get a flare to right, broken bat and ground ball single. First and third and he makes a couple mistakes to some good hitters, and we're down 4-0 before you know it. But I like the fact he didn't implode and got us to the sixth inning and competed like we know Kevin can.

"There will be better days for him. But their pitcher was real good today. That was obvious."

Left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez didn't allow a hit until Davis' leadoff single in the fifth. The Orioles didn't score until Machado's RBI double off Kelly, and they tacked on a run in the ninth on Hyun Soo Kim's infield hit off Fernando Abad, which scored Welington Castillo.

Kim now has one career major league hit in 23 plate appearances against left-handers.