Manny Machado and Yordano Ventura certainly had their bad blood on the field, but when the news of the Kansas City Royals right-hander's death reached the Baltimore Orioles star, their differences became an immediate afterthought.
"It's sad what happened," Machado told reporters, according to Eduardo Encina of the Baltimore Sun. "My condolences go to the family and I know they're still grieving. I know it just sucks. I know we had our altercations on the field but you know what, you leave stuff on the field. Once you step between those lines, it's (the) gridiron. We're out there grinding, playing for each other, playing for our team, playing for the name across our chests.
"You know, once you step (off) the field, those are things you don't want to happen. I was just trying to reach out to the family and see if they needed anything. I wanted to send some stuff out. It's just sad to see a great guy like that and a great baseball player who had a bright future ahead go down like that."
(Video courtesy: MLB.com)
Machado and Ventura were involved in a benches-clearing brawl in June when the Orioles third baseman took exception to taking a 99-mph fastball to the ribs. After being hit, Machado charged out to the mound and engaged in a fistfight with Ventura.
The melee ended in a nine-game suspension for Ventura and a four-game suspension for Machado.
At the time, Ventura said that he did not hit Machado intentionally, but rather the ball slipped out of his hand.
