BALTIMORE -- If the Boston Red Sox were going to avenge the high slide by Baltimore Orioles star Manny Machado that jarred Dustin Pedroia's left knee and ankle and made him unavailable to play here Saturday night, Steven Wright wasn't the pitcher to do it. Not with his fluttering knuckleball and a fastball that could barely scratch a pane of glass, much less bruise Machado.
Besides, Wright has his own problems.
Coincidence or not -- and to hear Wright talk, it is hardly a coincidence -- he hasn't been the same pitcher since last Aug.