Russell Martin isn’t one to back down from a fight, especially if it involves a teammate.
The Toronto Blue Jays catcher displayed his toughness last weekend as Martin was right in the middle of the dustup with the Texas Rangers, putting reliever Sam Dyson in a headlock in the midst of the bench-clearing brawl, and later protecting Jesse Chavez after he beaned Prince Fielder with a pitch.
“The first thing I’m thinking about is Fielder vs. Chavez and there’s a bit of a weight difference there,” Martin said Wednesday in a guest appearance on Tim & Sid. “So I had to get in between my pitcher and Prince. That was the first thing I was thinking about, and then the benches cleared again. At that point, Prince, he knew something was going to happen. He was smiling and didn’t seem too aggressive about it. I was just making sure that if there was going to be another fight, they were going to have to go through me first.
“I was hoping someone would step up, to be honest. I was a bit angry.”
Martin admitted he isn’t a big fan of violence, but acknowledged he was upset with Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor for deliberately throwing at Jose Bautista while he was sliding into second base to break up a double play.
“I feel that was the dirtiest part of the whole fight,” Martin said. “The angle of the throw and how he set up to throw, it didn’t even look like he was trying to throw to first and just at Jose’s face….That’s the kind of stuff I really don’t like at all.”
The 33-year-old did not receive a suspension for his involvement in the scrum.
Martin is hitting .170/.237/.179 with no home runs and eight RBI in 118 plate appearances this season.