Josh Donaldson blasts MLB for not protecting hitters from beanball culture
Josh Donaldson belted his 11th home run of the season against the Minnesota Twins on Sunday. It came in the first inning, and after rounding the bases, Donaldson gave the Twins dugout a glaring look. Four innings later, Donaldson had a target on his back ... and on his abdomen.
Phil Hughes, the Twins' starter, threw consecutive pitches at Donaldson -- one that nearly hit him in the gut ...
... and another that was thrown behind him.
The Blue Jays slugger was understandably displeased with the pitches that were nowhere near the plate. He complained to the umpire before his manager John Gibbons came out and got tossed for the fourth time this season.
"I was asking, 'Hey, that's twice now. What are we doing?'" Donaldson said via AL.com. "He should throw him out of the game. You saw both pitches. The first one almost hit me in my gut. And the second one almost hit me in the back. It went behind me."
Hughes wasn't thrown out for throwing at Donaldson twice, which irked the third baseman. He wants to see MLB protect hitters more and get rid of what he says is a beanball culture that's taken over baseball.
Donaldson admits he stared down the Twins bench after the homer, attempting to send a message for his ejection one day before. But he doesn't believe that warrants getting thrown at and going unprotected from the umpire.
"I looked right at the guy who chirped at me yesterday and got me thrown out," Donaldson said, "letting him know I was coming to play today."
Donaldson has a point: MLB doesn't often go far enough to protect hitters. Pitchers aren't typically suspended for throwing at batters, unless it leads to a benches-clearing, punch-throwing brawl as it did between the Blue Jays and Rangers. Even then, the pitcher (Matt Bush) only received a one-game suspension, compared to eight for Rougned Odor. That's not to say hitting a batter is the same as punching a baserunner, but suspensions could be handed out more generously by MLB.
