John Matthews
WMAL.com
ARLINGTON, TX — (WMAL) Make Baseball fun again? Not this way, please.
A feud simmering since the American League playoffs last season led to a bench-clearing brawl Sunday between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Texas Rangers.
The fuse was apparently lit when the Blue Jays’ Jose Bautista was hit by a pitch in the eighth inning. After Bautista took first base, he slid hard into second in a bid to break up a double play, and taking out Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor in the process. Odor retaliated by cold-cocking Bautista with a right hook to the face, and the benches cleared for about 10 minutes.
All of this took place apparently because Bautista committed a dramatic bat flip after knocking a game-winning home run in last year’s playoff matchup between the Blue Jays and Rangers.
“I had a hard slide at second base. I could have injured [Odor, but] I chose not to,” Bautista said. “I tried to send a message that I didn’t appreciate getting hit [by the pitch].”
Bautista and Odor were ejected after the brawl, as were Toronto third baseman Josh Donaldson and Texas bench coach Steve Buechele.
The punches were over by that point, but not the drama.
After play resumed, Toronto relief pitcher Jesse Chavez struck the Rangers’ Prince Fielder with the next pitch, and the benches cleared a second time, though this time the peace was kept. Both Chavez and acting Blue Jays manager DeMarlo Hale were then ejected. Hale had been managing because Toronto’s skipper, John Gibbons, had been tossed in the third inning for arguing balls and strikes.
Gibbons returned to the field during the brawl, and is expected to face further discipline for returning to the field after being ejected. The Nationals’ Bryce Harper served a one-game suspension Saturday night for doing the same thing during a game against Detroit last week.
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