Martinez: 'I've got no respect' for Cole and Pirates after retaliation HBP

DH Victor Martinez (Leon Halip/Getty)

DETROIT — Victor Martinez wasn’t in a mood to mince words early Wednesday morning after he grounded into a double play to end a 14-inning marathon that the Pirates won 5-4.

Martinez, the Tigers DH, was bothered by something, or a string of somethings, that happened many hours earlier.

It began with Justin Verlander hitting Starling Marte in the elbow with a 1-2 fastball in the fourth. Tensions have been high in Pirates camp lately regarding HBPs, of course, since Andrew McCutchen got knocked out of a game last week. So, in the bottom of the inning Gerrit Cole drilled Martinez with a 95 mph fastball up and in, hitting him somewhere near his shoulder.

That’s what Martinez was still ticked about after the game.

Was Cole’s high-and-tight heater intentional?

“Yeah, everybody knows that,” Martinez told reporters. “I’ve got no respect for anyone on that team, including Cole and their coaching staff. Because if they think Verlander hit Marte with a 1-2 count — he was battling in that at-bat and Verlander ended up hitting him — if they really think we did it on purpose, they’re playing the wrong sport. Nothing else to say.”

Verlander responded by hitting the leadoff man in the fifth, Pedro Alvarez, with a 95 mph fastball that “got away from me,” he claimed. And, to his credit, Verlander had inconsistent command Tuesday and walked five batters, hitting two more. Umpire Chris Segal warned both benches, and that was the end of that, for the most part. Reliever Blaine Hardy hit Gregory Polanco in the leg in the eighth, but it wasn’t deemed intentional, so Hardy pitched on.

We’ll see how this plays out the next two days.

(HT Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press.)