Billy Butler baffled by Royals’ actions
A clearly conflicted Billy Butler could not help but shake his head as he reflected on Sunday afternoon’s game.
His return to Kansas City started on a high note Friday when he received his American League championship ring, but as the weekend progressed he saw his old and new worlds collide in a nasty — and at times dangerous — battle for the last word.
“I’ve got friends on both sides,” Butler said. “It’s a tough situation. Who wants to be part of that?”
The conflict dated back to Friday night, when Oakland third baseman Brett Lawrie took out Royals shortstop Alcides Escobar with a slide and seemed to reach its conclusion when Yordano Ventura hit Lawrie on Saturday.
However, a misplaced pitch from the A’s Scott Kazmir that hit Lorenzo Cain in the top of the first inning brought the Royals to a boiling point and eventually led to five ejections. The most notable was Kelvin Herrera, who responded by throwing a pitch behind Lawrie’s back in the eighth.
The Royals went on and won the game 4-2, but their actions clearly baffled Butler.
“I thought it was handled yesterday,” he said. “Brett handled it like a true professional. He got hit and went to first base. I don’t know what their issue is still with him. There are ways to handle things, and I don’t think it was handled right.”
His teammates were far more forward about their feelings including Kazmir, who said the ball to Cain was an unintentional pulled fastball.
“We are frustrated with how everything went about,” Kazmir said. “I feel like that ball to Lawrie was completely unprofessional.”
The Athletics’ response reached its peak with a few heated answers from Lawrie, who said he figured the affair was over since he had been booed, but not hit in his first three at-bats.
“That’s some bull(bleep) and he needs to pay for that,” Lawrie said. “That ain’t OK. This is a game. This isn’t going up there and trying to hurt people. This guy doesn’t throw 85 miles an hour, he throws 100.”
Although he sided with the Athletics, Butler was not shy about his warm feelings toward his old squad. He even briefly tried to defend Herrera saying, “I know Kelvin is better than that.”
“Kansas City always has a place in my heart, and I will never forget that,” Butler said.
This story was originally published April 19, 2015 at 9:41 PM with the headline "Billy Butler baffled by Royals’ actions."