Toronto starting pitcher Marcus StromanPatrick Smith/Getty Images
Toronto Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said he has still not heard from Major League Baseball about any disciplinary action that may be taken against Marcus Stroman for a controversial head-high pitch he threw at Caleb Joseph of the Baltimore Orioles on Monday.
"But I'm sure I will soon, though," Gibbons said here on Tuesday afternoon as the Blue Jays prepared for their second game of the three-game set to be played Tuesday night at Camden Yards.
"I expect they'll do something stiff," Gibbons added, somewhat ominously.
The incident unfolded in the sixth inning during Baltimore's 5-2 win over Toronto when Stroman, the rookie Toronto starter, fired a first-pitch fastball that soared dangerously close behind the head of Joseph, the Orioles catcher.
Stroman later insisted that the throw was unintentional, that the ball slipped from his hand, but Buck Showalter, the Baltimore manager begged to differ.
He chastised Stroman after the game, terming what Stroman did as "borderline professionally embarrassing."
Showalter and the Orioles believe that Stoman deliberately targeted Joseph in retaliation for a play that unfolded in the fifth inning when Joseph's cleat came in contact with the hand of Jose Reyes, the Toronto shortstop who was sliding in safely to home plate with Toronto's second run.
Reyes was visibly upset after the play and exchanged words with the Baltimore catcher before he left the field.
Gibbons would not comment on what transpired with the questionable Stroman pitch after the game and was loath to discuss it on Tuesday when the matter was broached by the media.
The manager was asked if he had talked to Stroman about the matter. "It's between us," Gibbons responded.
Whatever was said it is clear that Gibbons did not like what transpired.
"I'm not going to get into what was said," Gibbons said. "But you can't go at a guy's head, that's the bottom line. Whether that was the intent or anything like that…"
Gibbons then closed the door on any more comments directly on the matter.
He did say that it is not common practice for him to ever try to reach out to an opposing manager in an effort to try to smooth over any bad blood that may have transpired between teams.
"I think we're all in agreement, the ball should never go near anybody's head," Gibbons said. "If you look at our team this year, I would venture to say we've had less problems with other teams than any team in baseball. That's probably fair to say. So we're not a trouble-making team."
Gibbons said he had not read any of Showalter's comments regarding Stroman.
"I know he can't be happy," he said. "I don't blame him."