By MARC CARIG
Giants manager Bruce Bochy told KNBR radio in San Francisco he thought that Zack Wheeler’s plunking of Hunter Pence on Sunday appeared to be a “cheap shot.” But the Mets righthander called the notion of any intent behind the pitch “just dumb.”
“They were up 3-2 in the third and I obviously didn’t have my stuff,” Wheeler told Newsday Tuesday before the Mets’ game against the Brewers. “That’s the last thing I would want to do is hit him right there and put him on base to lead off the inning. He’s a threat on the bases, so no, I didn’t do it on purpose.”
Pence was clearly upset when he took Wheeler’s 94-mph fastball to the ribs, one pitch after he took a wild swing on a 2-and-0 offering.
“They think I did it because of his 2-0 swing he took,” Wheeler said. “If that swing did bother me, which it didn’t, I wouldn’t hit him. I would laugh and try and strike him out.”
Wheeler, a former Giants farmhand, insisted he had “no reason” to throw at Pence.
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