Once slugger Miguel Cabrera wrestled New York Yankees catcher Austin Romine to the ground at home plate, a Thursday afternoon game at Comerica Park collapsed into total chaos.
All the testiness that had been building between the Detroit Tigers and Yankees finally boiled over. The toll of the fury: three bench-clearing altercations, eight ejections, one beaning and a lot of angry words.
“I’m sure there are going to be suspensions on both sides,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said after their 10-6 loss.
Photo: AFP
The winning and losing pitchers — Detroit’s Alex Wilson (2-4) and New York’s Dellin Betances (3-5) — were among those tossed, as were Girardi and Tigers manager Brad Ausmus.
At one point, the ill will carried over to the Detroit dugout, where star pitcher Justin Verlander and teammate Victor Martinez appeared to get into some sort of dispute.
Much later, Yankees reliever Dellin Betances was ejected after he hit James McCann in the helmet. Betances seemed to be indicating he had thrown a breaking ball instead of a fastball and wound up shouting at the Tigers and the umpires.
Last month, the teams had a game at Yankee Stadium in which four batters were hit.
This time, Michael Fulmer hit Gary Sanchez with a pitch in the fifth, an inning after Sanchez had homered for the fourth time in this three-game series.
New York’s Tommy Kahnle was ejected after his pitch behind Cabrera and Girardi was tossed after he came out to argue.
The game was finally about to resume when Cabrera stepped toward Romine and the New York catcher took off his mask. Cabrera gave him a two-handed push to the chest.
“He said: ‘You have a problem with me,’ and I said: ‘This isn’t about you,’ and then he pushed me,” Romine said.
Cabrera appeared to take a couple of swings at Romine and the two ended up on the ground as players from both teams spilled onto the field.
Cabrera and Romine were ejected and Romine was so incensed by his dismissal that he threw his mask when he entered the dugout.
An inning later, Betances hit McCann in the helmet with a pitch, causing the benches to empty again and Betances and bench coach Rob Thompson were tossed.
Wilson and Ausmus were ejected in the eighth after Wilson hit Todd Frazier in the thigh with a pitch, clearing the benches for a third time.
“With me hitting a guy in the leg, it’s what I have to do and that’s what I did,” Wilson said. “Fortunately for me I know where my pitches are going and I hit a guy in the leg today to take care of my teammates and protect them.”
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