Puig’s brawl with Reds or Bauer’s tantrum toss: Whose exit was uglier?
“Every little thing can have drama if it is completed proper,” Julia Little one famously stated. “Even a pancake.”
We acquired far more than a pancake on Tuesday.
As entrance places of work had been busy exchanging cellphone calls on trade-deadline eve, the Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates had been busy exchanging punches, the ultimate act of a season-long simmering feud between the 2 golf equipment. Certainly, a couple of minutes after studies leaked in regards to the three-team blockbuster commerce that despatched Trevor Bauer to the Reds and Yasiel Puig to the Cleveland Indians, there was the spirited Puig — nonetheless within the sport within the high of the ninth inning — in the course of the melee, with a number of teammates and coaches finally holding him again earlier than he self-combusted.
Discuss a dramatic departure. The Puig period in Cincinnati was short-lived — 91 video games and 404 plate appearances — however Reds followers will ceaselessly bear in mind his remaining sport. Likewise, Indians followers will recollect Bauer’s final sport with Cleveland, an outing that led to a infantile tantrum when he chucked the ball over the center-field fence after being faraway from the sport. Puig and Bauer are maybe the 2 most controversial personalities within the sport, so perhaps it is becoming their departures each finish in a loopy mix of tragedy and comedy.
2 Associated
The Reds-Pirates brawl was one of many nastier fights in a very long time. The animosity goes again to April 7, when the Pirates took offense to Derek Dietrich taking too lengthy to observe a house run and Chris Archer later hit him with a pitch. The benches cleared in that sport, and Puig was one of many gamers ejected. In Could, the Pirates hit Dietrich once more — after which he hit three house runs the following day and admired each.
In Tuesday’s sport, Dietrich entered within the seventh inning and Keone Kela promptly threw a pitch over Dietrich’s head. On the finish of the inning because the Reds took the sphere, Joey Votto had phrases with the Pittsburgh dugout, motioning to his head as if to say “do not throw it up right here.” Within the high of the ninth, Cincinnati’s Jared Hughes plunked Starling Marte within the rear finish, incomes an ejection and bringing Amir Garrett into the sport.
All remained calm till the final out of the inning. Garrett had simply retired Kevin Newman on a groundout, however as he returned to the mound, he had phrases with Pirates pitcher Trevor Williams after which charged towards the Pittsburgh dugout like Mel Gibson taking over the English:
Amir Garrett vs. The Pirates.
#Reds @Amir_Garrett pic.twitter.com/o3o1brNdiL
— Sam Greene (@SGdoesit) July 31, 2019
1:54
Amir Garrett says he charged the Pirates dugout as a result of he was bored with the Pirates hitting the Reds’ batters.
That is how Puig finally acquired concerned — and obtained his third ejection of the season. (He was ejected 4 instances in six seasons with the Dodgers.)
Reds supervisor David Bell, who had been ejected within the eighth inning for arguing balls and strikes, returned to the sphere through the brawl, definitely incomes himself a tremendous and suspension. He discovered himself on the underside of the chaos with Pirates hitting coach Rick Eckstein on high of him, and as he lastly extricated himself from the pile, Bell appeared to shout “You piece of s—” at Pirates supervisor Clint Hurdle.
Bell additionally had pointed phrases for Hurdle after the sport.
“The warnings aren’t going to do something,” he stated of the Pirates’ head-hunting techniques. “There is not any place for it. … This has been happening all 12 months.”
The Pirates do not have a great fame on this regard. Sure, Hurdle and pitching coach Ray Searage preach pitching inside, however Kela’s pitch was bush league. Bell tried to lift this difficulty with MLB earlier within the season to little avail:
Again in Could, David Bell tried to inform @MLB that the Pirates wanted to be taken care of. MLB did nothing. #Reds
— Lance McAlister (@LanceMcAlister) July 31, 2019
Hurdle is 62, which makes him a man from a distinct era, as in comparison with most of at this time’s managers. He performed within the rough-and-tumble 1970s and 1980s, when brawls had been a way more frequent a part of the sport. Whereas we hardly ever see these sorts of all-out fights anymore — even on this one, it did not seem that Garrett really landed clear blows with any of his punches — the pitches at or close to the pinnacle stay too frequent in at this time’s sport. Throwing at Dietrich in July due to a house run he hit in April is a discredit to the Pirates group.
This is the most recent intel we’re listening to, names to observe, response to accomplished offers and buying lists for each staff as July 31 nears.
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Bell is true, nonetheless: Warnings from the umpires do not clear up the issue. Till the punishment for pitches just like the one Kela threw are extra extreme, we will proceed to see these items occur. The Pirates and Hurdle are perhaps the worst offenders, and their actions towards Dietrich this season have been a humiliation, however they are not the one ones. The gamers have proved they cannot police themselves, and sooner or later, one in every of these pitches goes to hit a batter and do some severe injury.
There will probably be suspensions. There will probably be fines. Let’s hope MLB figures out a strategy to step in and truly cease the nonsense.
Yasiel Puig battled the Bucs in one other brawl Tuesday night time. AP Picture/John Minchillo