When rivalries turn hostile
benches came on the field, and there was some pushing and shoving. Andrew Cashner had hit Houston’s Jose Altuve and Yuli Gurriel earlier in the game.
It’s never clear how long the bad blood might last in situations like these. Sometimes, players are able to move on, content that no more retaliation is warranted, but any more flare-ups could escalate things again.
Here are a few other feuds from recent years that remained testy for at least a little while: him. Then Odor connected with a right-handed punch squarely to Bautista’s jaw, touching off quite a donnybrook .
The Mets swept a four-game series in Philadelphia in late August, and the Phillies became upset with the visitors for quick pitching. There was a lot of yelling but no violence after Hansel Robles threw a pitch before Philadelphia batter Darin Ruf was ready.
About a month later, the playoff-bound Mets were back in Philadelphia when slugger Yoenis Cespedes was hit by a pitch. Robles was later ejected after throwing a pitch around Cameron Rupp’s head. The benches began to empty then before order was restored.
Carlos Gomez was hit in the leg by one of Paul Maholm’s pitches in a June game against Atlanta. When the teams played in September, Gomez homered off Maholm, dropped his bat emphatically and took his sweet time before beginning a trot around the bases that he was never able to finish. Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman jawed with him, and by the time Gomez approached home, catcher Brian McCann was standing in the way, blocking his path to the plate. That cleared the benches.
The benches emptied on multiple occasions during a June matchup between these NL West rivals that resulted in eight suspensions.
The real fracas began after Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke came to the plate and was hit by Ian Kennedy’s pitch. Los Angeles got the last laugh, clinching the division at Arizona that year and celebrating in the swimming pool at Chase Field.