But that served as the undercard to the main event: a heavyweight brawl between Orioles reliever Kevin Gregg (6 feet 6 inches, 230 pounds) and Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz (6-4, 230).
Although Ortiz was not available after the game, Gregg met with the media in the visitors’ clubhouse and defended his actions while taking a shot at the Sox.
“I think we showed them we’re not backing down, we’re not scared of them, them and their $180 million payroll, we don’t care,’’ Gregg said. “We’re here to play the game, we have just as much right to play the game here, and we’re going to do everything we can to win.’’
The fireworks erupted when Ortiz came to the plate with one out and one aboard in the eighth and took umbrage at the three straight inside pitches from Gregg.
“Ortiz, the place to get him out is in; you’ve got to pitch him in,’’ Gregg said. “The first pitch wasn’t too far off the corner, and he jumped away like it was at his head. The next pitch was a little bit further in, he didn’t like it, he stared at me. I’m still going to go in there and try to pitch in there.’’
Gregg’s third pitch, a 93-mile-per-hour sinker, came close to hitting Ortiz on the hip.
“You go to the well three times, something’s looking pretty bad,’’ Beckett said. “I don’t know why they were trying to do that, but it was pretty obvious to me that it wasn’t just ‘I was just trying to pitch you in.’ ’’
Countered Gregg: “They’re going to whine and complain about it because they think they’re better than everybody else, but now, we have just as much right to pitch inside as they do.’’
Ortiz stomped out of the batter’s box and pointed at Gregg, prompting both benches and bullpens to empty.
Chaos broke out after Ortiz popped to center. Gregg motioned at Ortiz to run down the line, prompting plate umpire Mike Estabrook to eject the Orioles pitcher.
