Joey Votto, who has shown in the past that he can be as rude or polite as he wants to be, chose to be courteous Tuesday night after getting thwacked in the side with a baseball. Why get angry when your team’s up 6-0, anyway?
In the bottom of the sixth, Marlins pitcher Wei-Yin Chen’s first pitch found the a meaty part of the Reds first baseman. Votto took a couple of steps toward the mound, which prompted Marlins catcher Jorge Alfaro and home plate umpire Nick Lentz to slowly tail him in case some shit went down, but there was no drama. Votto picked up the ball and gently tossed it back to Chen before making his way to first.
Votto’s politeness also might’ve worked as a good psych-out tactic; Chen gave up 10 earned runs in two innings of work as the Marlins lost, 14-0.