Sam Antonacci doesn't believe he did anything wrong after his slide into second base caused the benches to clear during Wednesday's game between the Chicago White Sox and Pittsburgh Pirates.
The White Sox rookie's elbow made contact with Pirates second baseman Brandon Lowe during an inning-ending double play in the seventh. Antonacci and Lowe had a heated exchange, followed by the benches clearing.
(Video source: MLB.com)
"Just to try to make a harder throw for him to have to make," Antonacci said of the incident following Chicago's 4-1 loss, according to Aiden Stepansky of MLB.com. "Completely legal play. If you go look at the rulebook or go look at what happened, you can slide as late as you want as long as you keep contact with the bag, and that's exactly what happened."
The 23-year-old added: "When you have a problem and you walk away like that, I'm happy enough to have a conversation, but you can't walk away. He's a grown man."
Lowe disagreed with Antonacci.
"I just didn't like the slide. Said my piece and walked away," the two-time All-Star said. "I don't really know what led to it clearing, but bad slide the first night, bad slide tonight, and just kind of tired of it."
The slide rule prohibits a runner from "throwing his arm or his upper body or grabbing the fielder," according to MLB.
There were no ejections during Wednesday's incident. The two clubs wrap up the three-game series Thursday.
