David Ortiz Responds To Kevin Gregg's Comments

During last night's ballgame, we were treated to a good old fashioned Boston Red Sox brawl. After throwing three straight pitches inside to David Ortiz, Baltimore Orioles reliever Kevin Gregg induced a fly ball to Ortiz and yelled at him to go to first base. Ortiz, who didn't appear to say anything on the way to first base, took exception to Gregg's barking and charged the mound.  

The brawl ultimately caused the ejections of both Ortiz and Gregg, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, and Orioles reliever Jim Johnson. After the game, Gregg has some interesting comments (to say the least) about the brawl, declaring that he didn't do anything wrong by pitching very inside to Ortiz and telling him to go to run the bases after the pop up.

Speaking to DJ Bean of WEEI, Ortiz had different view points than Gregg did on Friday night's brawl. Read what he had to say after the jump.

When asked about the brawl at first, Ortiz made it very clear that the brawl was not his fault, citing that he was provoked by Gregg's inside pitches and comments made after the pop up.

"This is a guy that I always face. He never pitches in, so he threw a whole bunch of pitches inside, and I’m pretty sure he was trying to hit me, no question about that," Ortiz said of Gregg. "After that, I hit the fly ball and he started screaming at me. I ain’t going to take that like a little [kid]. Everybody’s a grown-[up] man here, and you’ve got to be aware of the situation." (via WEEI)

After the game, Gregg spoke to reporters himself, citing that Ortiz and the Red Sox needed to "play the game right."  Ortiz then turned the tables on Gregg, citing that he was the one not playing the game right.

"I respect everybody the same," Ortiz said. "If you’re getting your [butt] kicked, there’s nothing you can do but play better. You can’t be acting stupid out there just because you’re getting beat up. There’s a reason you’re getting beat up. You’re not playing the game the way it’s supposed to be. Play the game the way it’s supposed to be, and you’re not going to get beat up." (via WEEI)

Ortiz also added this:

"Don’t be blaming it on , ‘Oh, you guys think you’re better than us,’ and this and that," Ortiz continued. "I have a lot of friends on that ball club. I don’t like to be going through situations like that. It’s just horrible. It’s not like we’re trying to show up nobody. You play the game. We got our [butts] kicked at the beginning of the season. We don’t blame nobody but us. Then we started figuring things out and played better. Nobody is looking over their shoulders at no one. Play the game right, and you will earn respect." (via WEEI)