Source: Justin Berl / Getty
Outside of paying its star players ridiculous sums of money, baseball is a notoriously dull sport. But every now and then a brawl breaks out that adds some much-needed excitement. Cincinnati Reds right fielder Yasiel Puig during a Sunday (Apr.7) matchup with the Pittsburgh Pirates wanted all the smoke with the entire squad.
When it comes to throwing behind or at Yasiel Puig’s teammates… don’t.
Things got chippy real fast after Derek Dietrich stared down a home run he hit off Pirates pitcher Chris Archer. According to baseball’s archaic unwritten rules admiring home runs is a no, no and showing up the opposing pitcher results in retaliation in the form of either getting hit with a fastball or worst case scenario, a pitch getting thrown behind you.
Dietrich’s decision to stare at his long ball earned him a pitch directly thrown at him. Reds manager David Bell, of course, didn’t like that and voiced his displeasure with the umpires. Warning’s were issued, but that wasn’t enough because both benches cleared with Puig leading the charge and having to be held back by his teammates so he wouldn’t put the paws on Archer. For a while, it just looked like it was going to be nothing but a screaming match between the two squads, but it got out of control once Puig finally managed to break away.
The hothead player managed to put Pirates coach Tom Prince in a headlock before getting ejected alongside his manager Bell. It would be hard to imagine the MLB won’t come down on Puig significantly for his behavior suspending him for some games. Archer remained in the game, but two Pirates relievers Keone Kela and Felipe Vazquez were tossed from the game as well. Nice way to get the still young 2019 MLB season rolling.
