Showalter unapologetic over Machado's slide: 'What was illegal about it?'

A controversial slide by Baltimore Orioles star third baseman Manny Machado that left Boston Red Sox veteran Dustin Pedroia a little worse for wear resulted in a tense game between division rivals on Friday.

Orioles manager Buck Showalter apparently sees no issue with the slide, and backed Machado after the contest.

"I haven't seen the slide. What was illegal about it? I don't really know," Showalter said, according to Jen McCaffrey of Mass Live. "I'd have to look at it to react to it. But there's a lot more about that game. I know that's where the drama plays."

"You could tell (Machado's) reaction, he felt bad about it," he added.

Related: Machado doesn't expect retaliation after Pedroia slide: 'It wasn't intentional'

For his part, Machado admitted that the slide wasn't intentional, but added that he wasn't going to change the way he plays over one controversial incident.

This isn't the first time Showalter has taken a shot at the Red Sox and manager John Farrell. Earlier in April, while Boston players were dealing with a bad case of the flu which led the team to fumigate its clubhouse, Showalter was less than sympathetic, saying that every team deals with illness, and his players do a good job "not broadcasting it to the world" when they're sick.

Oh, Bucky.