The Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates do not like each other. The two teams were involved in a wild benches-clearing brawl for the second time this season on Tuesday (July 30) night.
This brawl happened in the ninth inning of the Pirates eventual 11-4 victory, but the spark for the fight dates back to April. On April 7, the benches cleared after Pirates pitcher Chris Archer threw a pitch behind Derek Dietrich because he was upset that Dietrich admired a monster home run he hit earlier in the game.
The Pirates did not forget what happened and in the seventh inning on Tuesday night, Pirates reliever Keone Kela threw a 97-mile-per-hour fastball over the head of Dietrich. Kela would go on to strike out Dietrich and shouted something at the hitter as he walked back to the dugout.
The two teams began yelling at each other in between innings and the umpires issued a warning to both benches.
In the ninth inning, Reds reliever Jared Hughes hit Pirates center fielder Starling Marte in the rear end with a fastball. He was immediately ejected as was Reds bench coachFreddie Benavides, who was serving as the acting manager because Reds manager David Bell was ejected in the previous inning for arguing balls and strikes.
Amir Garrett was brought in to pitch, but the players continued to jaw at each other. Eventually, Garrett had enough and charged toward the Pirates dugout. Both benches cleared as players started throwing punches at each other.
Even the coaches got involved. Bell ran back onto the field to join in the brawl and charged toward Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle. Bell was taken down by Pirates hitting coach Rick Eckstein.
After nearly five minutes, the umpires were finally able to regain control of the situation. Six players along with Benavides were ejected from the game and will likely be suspended by Major League Baseball.
After the game, the players said that their issues have not been resolved and expect that things could spiral out of control the next time they face off.
"I wouldn't be surprised if it sparks up again. We don't take lightly to what happened tonight and the way that they acted," Pirates starter Joe Musgrove said. "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."
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