Dude.
The Atlanta Braves are currently up 4-2 on the Los Angeles Angels in the bottom of the fifth inning during the middle game of their three-game series in Anaheim. The Braves will have to go without starting pitcher Reynaldo López for the remainder of the contest after he got thrown out for getting into a fight with current Angels DH and 2021 World Series hero Jorge Soler. Soler was also ejected.
The incident came after Soler took offense to a ball that was high, inside and wild. After catcher
Jonah Heim fielded the ball and tried to throw out Nolan Schanuel at second base, things got tense as Soler and López stared each other down and exchanged words for a few seconds. The intensity turned into fists flying, as Soler charged López and López responded by squaring up, putting up his dukes and throwing hands for a bit. This was wild!
To add some context to this, Soler had gotten hit by a pitch from López earlier on in this game and this was after Soler had homered in the first inning to put the Angels up 2-0. Soler has also historically dominated López at the plate over the course of their respective careers. Keeping that in mind, you can probably assume that Soler figured that the wild pitch from López was an attempt to hit him. I’m skeptical since there was a man on base and I don’t think that any pitcher in the world would want to deal with another base runner in that situation while holding on to a two-run lead but it’s something to think about.
Either way, holy smokes! Both guys were ejected — you could argue that Reynaldo López should’ve been allowed to stay in since he was defending himself but if you’re throwing punches in a fight (and throwing punches with a baseball in your hand) then that’s an automatic hook. We’ll have to keep an eye on whether or not there will be further sanctions from MLB concerning the situation but for now, the game will go on without one of Atlanta’s top starters and one of the guys who helped bring the most recent World Series title to Atlanta. These California games, man!
