Welcome to Monday’s Morning Mashup. For the latest news, start at our WEEI.com home page or click here for the top stories from our news wire.
MONDAY’S BROADCAST HIGHLIGHTS:
MLB: Red Sox at Royals, 8:15 p.m. (NESN; WEEI-FM)
NBA playoffs: Thunder at Warriors, 9 p.m. (TNT)
NHL playoffs: Lightning at Penguins, 8 p.m. (NBCSN)
AROUND THE WEB:
— It’s not secret that the Rangers were not happy with Jose Bautista’s bat flip during the playoffs last season. On Sunday they got some revenge, courtesy of second baseman Rougned Odor’s right hand to Bautista’s jaw.
In the eighth inning of Texas’ 7-6 victory, Rangers pitcher Matt Bush — the 30-year-old rookie whose career was derailed by a 3 1/2-year stint in prison for a drunken driving accident — plunked Bautista.
On an ensuing grounder, Bautista slid through second base and forced a wild relay throw from Odor (but the runner was called out due to Bautista’s obstruction). As Bautista got up, Odor pushed him in the chest, and they both took a fighting stance. Odor then connected with a strong right that knocked off Bautista’s helmet and glasses and appeared to stun him.
“I was pretty surprised,” Bautista said. “I mean, obviously, that’s the only reason that he got me and he got me pretty good, so I have to give him that. It takes a little bit bigger man to knock me down.”
Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre grabbed Bautista and pulled him away as players from both teams rushed in.
Bautista and Odor were ejected along with another representative from each team.
Blue Jays manager John Gibbons, who had been ejected during a third inning argument with umpires, returned to the field during the fight and exchanged words with Rangers manager Jeff Banister.
“I didn’t want to sit here and drink too much wine,” Gibbons joked. “You’ve got to go out there. I’m sure the league will say something about that, but it’s kind of the manager’s responsibility.”
When the game resumed, Blue Jays reliever Jesse Chavez hit Prince Fielder with the next pitch and was ejected along with bench coach Demarlo Hale, who had replaced Gibbons.
Gibbons said he didn’t appreciate that the Rangers waited until Bautista’s last at-bat of the series to start something.
“It was ugly and unfortunate,” Gibbons said. “To me, it was gutless. The other 29 teams, they come at you right away, but to wait until the end, it just sort of tells you something. Everybody is going to say, ‘Oh, it was a one-run game. The ball got away.’ That ain’t going to fly.”
— The Mayor of Manchester, England, expressed his frustration with Sunday’s postponement of a Premier League soccer game due to a fake bomb left apparently behind after a training exercise.
After the Manchester United-Bournemouth match was called off and the stadium cleared of fans, the device — found in a toilet — was blown up in a controlled explosion. It was later determined to be a fake.
“We have since found out that the item was a training device which had accidentally been left by a private company following a training exercise involving explosive search dogs,” said John O’Hare, assistant chief constable from Greater Manchester Police.
That didn’t sit well with Tony Lloyd, Manchester’s mayor who also serves as the district’s police and crime commissioner.
“It is outrageous this situation arose and a full inquiry is required to urgently find out how this happened, why it happened and who will be held accountable,” he said.
The season-ending match was pushed back to Tuesday.
— Curt Schilling made it official, writing in a blog post that he is backing Donald Trump for president.
The former ESPN baseball analyst acknowledged in the Friday post that he doesn’t see eye-to-eye with Trump on a variety of topics but still far prefers him over what Schilling refers to as “the Soviet ticket.”
Wrote Schilling: I trust him. I don’t agree with him on many things, that’s cool. I also know that there is and never will be a candidate anywhere that I will agree with on everything. …
Schilling also went on a rant about “you frauds in the liberal media,” complaining that they have been “lying your asses off to a group of people too lazy to do the work on their own, to listen and decide on their own.”
ON THIS DAY TRIVIA (answer below): On May 16, 1989, Mike Milbury was hired as Bruins coach, replacing which former teammate?
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Those things happen when you’re playing good. Little things happen to go your way. We’ve got to keep taking advantage of that and keep adding wins every day.” — First baseman Hanley Ramirez, after the Red Sox took advantage of an Astros mistake during their game-winning rally in Sunday’s 10-9 victory
STAT OF THE DAY: 2 — Consecutive Game 7s won by the Raptors, including Sunday’s 116-89 victory over the Heat that propelled Toronto into the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in franchise history
‘NET RESULTS: Kendrys Morales gives the Royals a walk-off win over the Braves in the 13th inning with a two-run home run.
The Diamondbacks appear to score the tying run with two outs in the ninth inning, but after a video review the Giants are credited with a game-ending double play.
Ryan Zimmerman gets an inside-the-park home run for the Nationals when Marlins outfielders Giancarlo Stanton and Marcell Ozuna collide while chasing his fly ball to the warning track (both players remained in the game).
From Saturday night’s Boston Cannons lacrosse game, defender Brodie Merrill lets go an 80-yard full-field shot that somehow finds the net to tie the game just before time runs out in regulation.
TRIVIA ANSWER: Terry O’Reilly
SOOTHING SOUNDS: Janet Jackson was born on this day in 1966.