Miguel Cairo Had Perfect Reason for Confronting Rocco Baldelli

The Chicago White Sox's 4-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Friday was not without some fireworks. A bench-clearing brawl erupted late in the game when Twins reliever Jorge Lopez hit White Sox first baseman Andrew Vaughn with a pitch in the bottom of the ninth.

Caught in the middle of the scuffle were none other than Twins manager Rocco Baldelli and White Sox acting manager Miguel Cairo. While Cairo was eventually ejected from the game, the Chicago bench boss had the perfect reason for confronting his Minnesota counterpart.

White Sox News

Cairo told reporters after the game that he confronted Baldelli because he wanted to "protect his players." He added that once he saw the Twins manager storm the field, he knew that he also had to stand up for his own club.

Cairo has received rave reviews from White Sox fans for his work behind the bench. The former MLB infielder has taken over managerial duties since Wednesday after it was revealed that Tony La Russa will miss the foreseeable future with an "unspecified medical issue."

Nevertheless, Cairo's protective nature shows that he'll make a good full-time manager one day. Considering that La Russa is 77 years old and wasn't expected to be a long-term solution, it wouldn't be shocking if the White Sox eventually promoted their bench coach.

Meanwhile, Baldelli has been making a name for himself due to multiple scuffles over the last month or so. Only time will tell if he's at the center of another issue when the Twins and White Sox engage in a rematch on Saturday at 6:15 p.m. ET.

Devon Platana is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Devon Platana also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username PepeSilvia0. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.