Pedro Martinez Says He'd Have Thrown at Manny Machado for Dustin Pedroia Slide

Baseball Hall of Fame starting pitcher Pedro Martinez said Friday he would have thrown at Baltimore Orioles third baseman Manny Machado for his high slide on Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia last week.

Scott Lauber of ESPN passed along comments Martinez made about the situation, which earned Red Sox relief pitcher Matt Barnes a four-game suspension for throwing at the head area of Machado.

"If I was pitching, I was going to drill Machado, as much as I love him," he said. "The only thing I would have done differently was probably [throw] the ball a little bit lower. But everything else was the nature of baseball."

Martinez, who made a stop with the Red Sox during a storied career that included stints with five teams across 18 years, stated he didn't believe there was an intent to injure on the part of anybody involved.

"I'm going to put it this way: Machado did not intend to hurt Pedroia, and I know that because I know Machado," he said, per ESPN. "Barnesy did not mean to throw the ball at Machado's head. That's another thing. But the results at the end were the right ones. Hopefully it won't linger around for too long, or nobody will make it personal."

Meanwhile, Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald noted Pedroia lamented the location of the pitch from Barnes to Machado during last Sunday's game.

"I just told (Machado) I didn't have anything to do with that," the veteran infielder said. "That's not how you do that, man. I'm sorry to him and his team. If you're going to protect guys, you do it right away. He knows that. We both know that. It's definitely a mishandled situation."

Like Martinez, Pedroia didn't think the Boston reliever meant to aim for the star third baseman's head but called the entire ordeal a "bad situation."

The Red Sox stalwart ended up missing three games as a result of knee and ankle injuries suffered after the slide from Machado.

Barnes said he was merely working inside in an effort to entice "some weak contact" and would "never" throw at an opponent's head, per Jen McCaffrey of MassLive.

Looking ahead, the Red Sox and Orioles are set to renew their AL East rivalry with a four-game series in Boston starting Monday night.