I guess it was basebrawl day yesterday, though I’m glad no one told the Cubs and Pirates. Don’t need that drama.
After the Rockies and Padres got into it big time following a series of beanballs and a pitch behind Nolan Arenado’s back, the classic Yankees-Red Sox rivalry got a new chapter when Joe Kelly plunked Tyler Austin following a benches-clearing dust-up earlier in the game thanks to a late-ish Austin slide into second base.
It looked like Kelly was trying to hit Austin before this pitch, missed, and then made sure not to miss with try number two:
Benches clear, punches thrown in Yankees-Red Sox after Tyler Austin is hit by a pitch from Joe Kelly. pic.twitter.com/wvqoak8QMV
— MLB (@MLB) April 12, 2018
That’s 98 mph up and in. Not only did it probably hurt, it was dangerous as hell. Just like in the Padres-Rockies situation, I understand what precipitated throwing at the batter, but this just can’t be the way things are handled. Until suspensions are more severe, it’s going to keep happening – eye for an eye, hard rock thrown as fast as humanly possible at another person.
The only bright spot from the ugly situation was Aaron Judge playing the part of absolutely enormous and terrifying peacemaker by calmly trying to remove Kelly from the fracas by his head: