BOSTON –– The Red Sox’ Coco Crisp has a sprained left thumb, and he’s blaming Tampa Bay shortstop Jason Bartlett for a “shady” play that caused the injury.

And that play, which occurred when Crisp stole second base in the sixth inning, led to a takeout slide by Crisp on an unsuccessful stolen-base attempt in the eighth, a hard slide that knocked over second baseman Akinori Iwamura. The slide prompted Rays manager Joe Maddon to yell at Crisp from the mound as he was making a pitching change in the bottom of the eighth.

This type of exchange might be more fitting of the Red Sox-Yankee rivalry, but first place was on the line last night at Fenway Park, and Crisp was incensed after the game, his left thumb wrapped in ice as the war of words resonated from clubhouse to clubhouse and back again.

It started when Crisp beat a pitchout in stealing second base in the sixth. Bartlett, covering the bag, put his knee down in front of the bag, with Crisp sliding in headfirst.

“That’s a shady play there. That’s how someone can get hurt,” steamed Crisp, who said he didn’t think he’d need x-rays on the thumb. “He’s not a bad dude, but that’s not something you do as an infielder. You can break someone’s thumb that way. I told him that when I got up.”

Crisp told Bartlett that if he got on again he’d be on his way to see Bartlett at the bag again. Crisp walked in the eighth. But the Rays had Iwamura covering the bag when he stole, not Bartlett.

Crisp admitted he went in hard. Maddon claimed Crisp had gone into the bag with the intent to injure someone.

“I went in hard to send a message. If I wanted to hurt someone, I wouldn’t have even slid, I would have jump-kicked his (butt). I was going in there to send a message. I did what I said I was going to do, unfortunately it was to the wrong person. I don’t know why they didn’t have Bartlett covering the bag. If it was me, I would have been there to take my own licking.”

Maddon initiated what he called a “long-distance conversation” with Crisp as he took out Jason Hammel and brought in Trever Miller. Crisp was standing at the railing at the top step of the Sox’ dugout.

“I saw his head bobbing but I don’t know what he was saying,” said Crisp. “He was looking at Tito [Francona], and I told him it was me, if he had anything to say to say it to me.”

Eventually, second-base umpire Rob Drake, who had heard the exchange between Crisp and Bartlett, went over to the Boston dugout and tried to calm down Crisp, but Crisp was still seething after the Sox’ 5-1 win.

So was Maddon.

“I was not pleased with the slide,” said Maddon. “There was something that happened earlier that I believe provoked him but I totally felt there was intent to hurt our middle infielder and that’s what I was upset with.”

Bartlett, meanwhile, didn’t want to get drawn into any controversy when approached in the Rays’ clubhouse.

“If it’s about that,” said Bartlett, sensing the topic that was about to be brought up, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

smcadam@projo.com