The pressure of his team’s disastrous run seems to finally be getting the better of Cleveland Guardians manager Stephen Vogt.
TV cameras caught an extremely tense exchange with his associate manager Craig Albernaz on Friday.
During Cleveland’s 2-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers, which extended their losing streak to eight games, Albernaz tried to lighten the mood in the dugout by tossing sunflower seeds at Vogt.
But rather than laugh it off, Vogt seemed furious. He looked down, muttered something to Albernaz and shook his head without ever making eye contact with his colleague.
It looked as though Albernaz believed Vogt was joking initially.
But when it quickly became apparent that he wasn’t, Albernaz’s facial expression quickly changed and he directed his gaze back towards the game.
Craig Albernaz tossed some sunflower seeds at Cleveland Guardians manager Stephen Vogt
Vogt did not take it well, saying something to his colleague as their team’s slump continued
It is no surprise tensions in the camp are high, given the fact the Guardians were battling the Tigers for top spot in the AL Central not long ago. They are now 13.5 games back in the division.
Fortunately, the Guardians have another chance to end their terrible run of form when they play the Tigers again at Progressive Field on Saturday.
To compound their misery, pitcher Luis Ortiz was placed on leave this week due to an MLB betting investigation.
The investigation is related to in-game prop bets on two pitches thrown by Ortiz that received higher activity than usual during his starts at Seattle on June 15 and his recent outing against St. Louis on June 27.
The gambling activity on the pitches was flagged by a betting-integrity firm and forwarded to MLB.
