Garza rips A's infielder after bunt
Matt Garza may have been absent from baseball school the day the instructor pointed out that victories in the first week of August count every bit as much as those in the last week of September in a pennant race.
How else to explain the Texas pitcher going off the deep end on Twitter on Saturday after a 4-2 loss to the Oakland A's, who moved 3 1/2 games ahead of the Rangers in the American League West?
Garza's string of tweets was aimed at Eric Sogard and the Oakland A's infielder's wife after Sogard put down a successful squeeze bunt in the bottom of the seventh inning for an insurance run (Sogard's second bunt of the game and one of four for the A's).
Garza, who took the loss in an eight-hit, one-walk complete game, was seen yapping at Sogard while walking off the field. Afterwards, he reportedly explained the episode to reporters by saying, "I asked him if there were any good places to eat in Oakland."
No word on whether Sogard offered up any dining advice, but the subsequent string of tweets aimed at the Oakland shortstop and wife Kaycee suggests the bunt was still eating at Garza well after the game.
Matt Garza is still pissed. Dude is fiery, I'll give him that. #Rangers --> pic.twitter.com/j19x8mYbOF
— Mike Taddow (@taddmike) August 4, 2013
Eric Sogard responded in understated fashion:
Zing.
And for the record, it's just good strategy to bunt against a guy who fields the ball like Garza has been known to do: