Benches clear after Madison Bumgarner yells at Yasiel Puig
San Francisco Giants ace Madison Bumgarner has developed a reputation for being … uh … intense on the mound. The big lefty has gotten into a number of shouting matches with opposing players, often times due to silly reasons.
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Bumgarner was at it again during Monday’s contest against the Los Angeles Dodgers. With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Yasiel Puig hit a weak grounder back to Bumgarner. Bumgarner ran off the mound, scooped up the ball and narrowly threw out Puig at first to end the inning.
Bumgarner was fired up after the play, and clapped his hands together as he proceeded to walk toward the Giants dugout. Before doing so, he glanced over at Puig, and decided he didn’t like the way the 25-year-old outfielder was looking at him.
Puig and Bumgarner fight https://t.co/IDHLMWUP1J
— Matt Clapp (@TheBlogfines) September 20, 2016
That’s not an exaggeration either. Some writers broke down the tape and most agree that the exchange between Bumgarner and Puig went something like this:
Bumgarner: “Don’t look at me.”
Puig: “What?”
Bumgarner: “Don’t look at me.”
Puig: “What are you going to do to me?”
— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughTimes) September 20, 2016
That thought was shared by Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully, who read some lips while looking over the footage.
God bless Vin Scully. pic.twitter.com/tVIEU9W9k7
— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) September 20, 2016
As the multiple angles show, both players started walking toward each other after the exchange. First baseman Brandon Belt and first base coach George Lombard stepped between the two players, and benches cleared. Even the bullpens cleared.
Ultimately, it didn’t escalate much beyond that. There was a little bit of shoving, but everyone kept their cool in the end. That’s probably a good thing, considering the argument started over something exceptionally dumb.
In the end, the “brawl” may have hurt the Giants more than the Dodgers. Manager Bruce Bochy pulled Bumgarner from the contest following the exchange. Bumgarner had thrown 97 pitches over seven shutout innings at that point. It’s unclear whether Bochy thought his night was done, or if the argument with Puig caused him to make the decision early.
It was the Dodgers who wound up getting the last laugh. The club rallied in the bottom of the ninth to pick up a win on a walk-off double from Adrian Gonzalez that was misplayed by outfielder Hunter Pence. The shaky Giants bullpen blew its 30th game during the 2-1 loss.
Following the loss, Bumgarner put his head down and immediately headed to the team’s clubhouse. He was later asked about the play, but didn’t really go into great detail on what happened.
Reporter: What happened on the play with Puig?
Bumgarner: You didn’t see it?Then this retelling of what happened: https://t.co/NlpeP5Zhyw
— Mike Oz (@mikeoz) September 20, 2016
Let’s hope no one from the team’s bullpen looks at Bumgarner the wrong way after making him angry.
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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik