Beanball history led to wild brawl
Tension runs deep with Reds, Pirates
CINCINNATI – When Reds pitcher Amir Garrett ran over to the Pirates dugout and sparked a benches-clearing brawl in the eighth inning Tuesday at Great American Ball Park, it was just the latest chapter in a long history of feuding between the two clubs.
It was the second benches-clearing incident between the teams this season. In 13 games against each other this year, they’ve totaled 15 ejections and 11 hit batsmen. The Reds believe the Pirates are intentionally throwing at hitters.
“I can’t tell you how disappointing it is that it’s still going on and nothing has been done about it,” Reds manager David Bell said after his eighth ejection of the season, the most in the majors. “It’s a shame that this is allowed, and they’re able to get away with it. They celebrate it. They support it. They clearly allow it. I don’t know if they teach it, but they allow it. It’s dangerous.”
The beanball history between the two teams is several years old, but there’s been plenty of bad blood throughout the 2019 season.
April 7: Puig runs to mound; benches clear
During the final game of a four-game series in Pittsburgh, Reds second baseman Derek Dietrich crushed a two-run homer in the second inning. The ball bounced into the Allegheny River over the right-field wall and Dietrich admittedly admired the home run for a few seconds in the batter’s box before beginning his home run trot. Pirates catcher Francisco Cervelli said something to Dietrich after crossing home plate.
In Dietrich’s next at-bat, in the fourth inning, Pirates pitcher Chris Archer threw a pitch behind Dietrich’s butt. Warnings were issued to both teams by home-plate umpire Jeff Kellogg, but Bell ran onto the field to argue that Archer should be ejected for intentionally throwing at Dietrich. A few seconds afterward, Yasiel Puig ran to the mound to yell at Archer, which led to the benches clearing.
There was shoving for about a minute, but no punches were thrown. Puig, upset over something Cervelli said, rushed past some of his teammates restraining him and charged into a group of Pirates players and coaches. There were five ejections: Bell, Puig, Garrett, Pirates reliever Keone Kela and Pirates closer Felipe Vázquez.
Archer received a five-game suspension. Puig was suspended for two games, and Bell had a one-game suspension.
“Good thing punches weren’t thrown,” Garrett said afterward. “I think it would be a bad day for them with me and Puig in there. It’s squashed. Just move forward from here. I don’t see anything going further from here.”
May 27: Dietrich hits home run after HBP
Playing in the second game of a doubleheader – the first day the two teams played each other since their benchesclearing incident in April – Dietrich was hit by an off-speed pitch on his right leg in the fifth inning by Pirates reliever Alex McRae. He took first base without issue.
Dietrich hit a solo home run in his next at-bat against McRae near the top rows of the right-field seats in the seventh inning, and he took a slow trot around the bases.
“I can take one in the leg,” Dietrich said following Tuesday’s brawl. “I can take one in the arm, in the back. You throw up at someone’s face, that’s potential serious damage.
“We thought it was squashed a while ago. They had their shot we felt like.”
May 29: Suárez goes on injured list after being hit
At the end of a four-game series, Reds third baseman Eugenio Suárez was hit by a pitch on his left hand by Pirates reliever Clay Holmes. Suárez walked to the mound to ask Holmes if he threw at him intentionally. Holmes said no, and Suárez believed him.
Suárez went on the 10-day injured list with a broken right thumb from a pitch that hit him against the Pirates in April 2018 – yes, there’s a lot of history between the two rivals – so he felt like he needed to ask. Bell was later ejected by third-base umpire Jeff Nelson because he argued Holmes should be ejected.
Bell said in his postgame news conference that the Reds needed to protect
themselves because the league wasn’t doing enough.
“We have to protect our guys,” Bell said Tuesday. “There’s no good way to do it. At some point, I sure hope something changes and somebody takes a chance, takes a risk and takes care of it on the field. The warnings aren’t going to do anything. All the warning does is get one of our pitchers ejected. It still doesn’t do anything to them.”
July 30: Reliever ejected for hitting Marte
In the seventh inning Tuesday, Kela threw a 97-mph fastball up-and-in against Dietrich with two outs and nobody on base. Between innings, Joey Votto walked to the third-base line and had an animated conversation with Kela, who was stationed on the top row of the dugout.
“The reason I went up-and-in was strictly, one, to show my intent with my pitch and to pretty much let Dietrich know that I didn’t necessarily agree with the way things went down,” Kela said. “Of course, people could say it was overdue. At the end of the day, this is baseball and I have to protect my teammates, and I have to do what I feel is right.”
Dietrich added: “I don’t see anybody on our team ever doing something like that. We don’t play like that. We don’t pitch like that. We’ve never thought like that.
“They do, obviously. I think it’s clear to see that. They made that evident. He’s a Pittsburgh Pirate, so they go in that bunch, every last one of them.”
Benches were warned after Votto’s and Kela’s discussion between innings. In the ninth inning, Reds reliever Jared
Hughes, who spent his first six years with the Pirates, was ejected for hitting Starling Marte with the first pitch of the inning. Hughes said, “The ball just slipped.”
“Were we wrong in the beginning of the game? Of course. Were they wrong for retaliating? Maybe not,” Pirates pitcher Trevor Williams said. “The unwritten rules are so gray. How it ended up today was extremely unfortunate.”
Garrett replaced Hughes on the mound and Williams says Garrett immediately cussed at Pirates first baseman Josh Bell. Williams was ejected for yelling from the dugout toward Garrett by plate umpire Larry Vanover. A few seconds afterward, Garrett dropped his glove and punches started flying. Bell, who was already ejected for arguing balls and strikes in the eighth inning, shoved Pirates manager Clint Hurdle before he was taken to the ground by Pirates hitting coach Rick Eckstein.
There were eight ejections in the game and five from the brawl: Garrett, Puig, Williams, Archer and Pirates reliever Kyle Crick.
The two teams play six more times this season after Wednesday’s game included two hit batsmen by Pirates pitcher Dario Agrazal.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if it sparks up again,” Pirates starter Joe Musgrove said after Tuesday’s game. “We don’t take lightly to what happened tonight and the way that they acted.
“The guy that’s running their team over there is the ringleader. You saw him come out and go right after our manager after being ejected.
“Who knows what’s going to happen down the line, but we definitely expect something to happen at some point. We’ll be ready for it.”