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Britton irked by Pedroia's apology: The leader should control his teammates

Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports / Reuters

The line between healthy rivalry and violent bad blood was crossed Sunday between the Baltimore Orioles and Boston Red Sox.

Presumably deferring to the "unwritten rules" of baseball - to take revenge on Manny Machado for injuring Dustin Pedroia on Friday - Red Sox reliever Matt Barnes threw at Machado.

The retaliation came two days after the initial incident, late enough in the series finale that Machado wouldn't be expected to get another at-bat.

Pedroia followed up the pitch by claiming "it's not me" in a bid to distance himself from the situation.

While this seemed to calm tensions between him and Machado, injured Orioles closer Zach Britton was less impressed.

"Dustin, him telling Manny, 'Hey, that didn't come from me' may be even more frustrating," Britton told Dan Connolly of BaltimoreBaseball.com. "Because he's the leader of that clubhouse and if he can't control his own teammates, then there's a bigger issue over there."

Britton's message boils down to the notion that talk is cheap, and actions speak louder than words.

"But what if Manny's on the ground with blood coming out of his ears? What is Dustin going to say then? It’s better to be proactive than reactive."

With 14 games remaining between the teams, things could potentially escalate even further, though Britton doesn't foresee it coming from his squad.

"Not necessarily," Britton said. "I think we've talked about it already, as a team, and we'll see how they choose to act - whether or not they choose to act professionally or unprofessionally when we get to Boston."

He won't have to wait long, as the Orioles and Red Sox play a four-game series at Fenway Park beginning May 1.

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