Saturday turned into fight night between the Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Guardians as a wild and lengthy brawl broke out in the sixth inning at Progressive Field.
The Sox won 7-4 in front of 35,823. But this game will long be remembered for the fracas featuring Sox shortstop Tim Anderson and Guardians third baseman José Ramírez that led to six ejections.
Ramírez doubled to right and made a headfirst slide into second, where Anderson applied the tag.
The two exchanged words and then punches were thrown as the benches cleared. Anderson and Ramírez squared off like prize fighters near second base, trading swings before Ramírez landed a right haymaker that leveled Anderson.
It took 14 minutes to clear the field as tempers continued to flare.
“I just saw them getting after it at second base,” Sox manager Pedro Grifol said. “I’m not really going to comment on anything about the brawl.”
Grifol was one of the six ejected.
“I’m not going to comment on it,” he said. “I’m going to let MLB figure this out. They’ve got some work to do.”
Anderson was unavailable to the media after the game.
The Sox led 5-1 with one out in the sixth when the incident occurred. When the inning began, Sox starter Michael Kopech had a no-hitter, which was broken up on a one-out double by Andrés Giménez.
Ramírez was up next, and the chain of events followed his hit.
“Obviously in division baseball you’re going to see a lot of each other, there’s been a lot of mouthing between the teams the past few series,” Kopech said. “Bottom line, we’re not playing our best baseball right now, but we’re not going to get bullied by a team that’s also playing less than .500 baseball.
“Tempers flared, things happened. But ultimately we had a job to do (when the game resumed and) we won the game.”
When the dust finally settled, Anderson, Ramírez, Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase, Grifol, Guardians manager Terry Francona and Guardians third-base coach Mike Sarbaugh were announced as being ejected.
“Sometimes things like this happen and there’s nothing you can do,” said Elvis Andrus, who began the game at second before moving to shortstop after the dust-up. “It’s just part of the game. We’re all competitors and when you’re out there on the field, it’s going to happen.
“We know Timmy and that’s why we love him, we’re always going to support him and have his back, he plays with passion and he gives us 100% on the field. Stuff like this happen and we’re always going to support him and move forward.”
After a brawl, there is always concern of potential injuries.
“Thank God I haven’t heard any news from the training room on that (injury) front, which is always good,” Grifol said.
Kopech allowed two runs on three hits with three strikeouts and four walks in 5 ⅓ innings. The Sox hit four homers, including the 30th of the season for Luis Robert Jr. and a two-run homer from Andrus as they snapped a five-game losing streak.
Now comes the wait for fallout after the melee.
“I’m going to let MLB do their investigation, watch the video, discuss it between themselves and they’ll come up with what happened,” Grifol said. “They always do.”
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