A former World Series champion broke down why he thinks Tigers starter Framber Valdez may have plunked Red Sox veteran Trevor Story on Tuesday night, leading to a benches-clearing brouhaha.
Eric Hosmer, a one-time All-Star and four-time Gold Glove first baseman with the Royals, posted a video on X showing how Red Sox baserunners were relaying Valdez’s pitch grips to the batter during their three-run first inning — all with two outs.
Wilyer Abreu singled and stole second to bring up Story, and Hosmer explains how the manner in which Abreu is standing on second base, along with signals he’s relaying once Valdez is preparing to throw a pitch, allows Story to know what’s coming.
Story ended up reaching on an error as Abreu advanced to third.
Tigers pitcher Framber Valdez walks off the field after being ejected during the fourth inning against the Red Sox on May 5, 2026. Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images Story then stole second and used the same strategy to help Ceddanne Rafaela, who slugged a three-run home run.
“Valdez found out what was going on but a couple innings too late and I’m sure was PISSED about it! Story got one in between the numbers because of it,” Hosmer captioned the video.
Valdez, whom the Tigers signed to a three-year, $115 million contract during the offseason, had a disastrous outing, allowing 10 runs (seven earned) in three innings, which included back-to-back home runs by Willson Contreras and Abreu to begin the top of the fourth, increasing Boston’s lead to 10-2.
That’s when Valdez plunked Story on the first pitch, getting him ejected and infuriating the Red Sox dugout.
Valdez claimed after the game he did not intentionally hit Story, but his own manager, A.J. Hinch, didn’t exactly throw his support behind the left-hander.
“I understand their frustration, I understand the optics, I understand the whole thing. We play a really good brand of baseball here, that didn’t feel like it,” Hinch said after the game. “That’s not judging intent, I have no idea, but I know when you go out on the field and you end up sort of in those confrontations you usually feel like you’re in your right. It didn’t feel good being out there, so I understand their frustrations, I understand the moment and it was a low moment of a frustrating night.”
The Red Sox, who fired manager Alex Cora on April 25, entered the series in Detroit 13-21 but won the first two games as they look for the sweep Wednesday night.
Detroit, which just lost ace Tarik Skubal for at least two months due to elbow surgery, is 18-19.
