If baseball management doesn’t quite pan out for the Rockies’ Clint Hurdle, he might have a career lined up in public relations. From the Rocky Mountain News’ Jack Etikin.
An otherwise forgettable Wednesday afternoon for the Colorado Rockies was spiced up in the eighth inning.
That’s when Rockies left-hander Tom Martin hit Brian Giles in the right buttock with the first pitch he threw to him. In the eighth inning Tuesday, Giles came sliding into catcher Danny Ardoin, who had tagged the plate to force Giles and was about 3 feet in front of the plate and throwing to first base, with his back to Giles, when he was hit by the San Diego Padres right fielder.
Giles’ slide left Ardoin with a large contusion on his right calf and a bone bruise on his right shin, trainer Keith Dugger said, but he was available to play Wednesday.
Martin entered Wednesday’s game in the seventh inning with the Padres leading 8-4 and on their way to a 13-4 victory. He pitched a scoreless seventh. With one out in the eighth, Giles came up and was hit by Martin.
Rockies players said Giles swore at manager Clint Hurdle as he walked toward first base. Hurdle said he “forgot” what he said to Giles and “really couldn’t hear” what Giles said to him.
“It’s a situation where we tried to make a statement inside hard,” Hurdle said. “I think the statement was made inside hard. It’s unfortunate he got hit. It’s unfortunate Danny got splattered (Tuesday) night. Sometimes unfortunate things happen.”
Referring to a statement being made, Martin said, “It was made, but not that anybody said to do it or meant to do it. It’s just the way it happens sometimes.”