Red Sox relief pitcher Jake Diekman had an afternoon to forget on Sunday. He had a costly wild pitch. He gave up a home run. He only lasted .2 innings. But amid all that frustration, he might have unleashed the boldest of gamesmanship on the Tampa Bay Rays.
The first pitch Diekman threw in relief against the Tampa Bay Rays was a wild pitch with Kevin Kiermaier on third and Randy Arozarena on second. Kiermaier slid in to score easily, but you have to watch how Diekman handled the sequence.
As Kiermaier dove into home, Diekman hopped over the Rays outfielder and walked towards the backstop with his back turned towards home plate. The broadcast was convinced that he fell asleep on the play. Did Diekman just completely forget the situation …. or did he mean to bait Arozarena into aggressive baserunning?
