Framber Valdez at center of another beanball controversy as benches clear

Just when the Detroit Tigers needed someone to step up and be a presence in a sea of calamity, someone to throw them a life raft, someone to make them feel like their world isn’t collapsing around them, along comes Framber Valdez acting like a human Titanic. Valdez is the Tigers’ new ace, their highest-paid player, the one the Tigers desperately are relying on to keep their postseason hopes alive until Tarik Skubal returns to the mound later this summer. And on Tuesday evening, he melted down for the entire Tigers’ franchise to see, reminding everyone of the ugly warts in this talented left-handed pitcher.

Valdez’s selfish act of immaturity was so outrageous in the Tigers’ 10-3 shellacking to the Boston Red Sox that when he intentionally hit Red Sox shortstop Trevor Story with a 94. 4 mph fastball in the middle of his back during his latest temper tantrum, even his own manager couldn’t stand up for him. “We play a really good brand of baseball here,’’ Tigers manager A.

J. Hinch said in his press conference after the game. “That doesn't feel like it.

That's not judging intent. I have no idea. “But when you go out on the field and end up in those confrontations, you usually feel like you're in your right.