Larry Brown Sports

Carlos Quentin charged the mound after being hit by a pitch from Zack Greinke, inciting a bench-clearing brawl between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres on Thursday night.

Greinke had a full count on Quentin with the bases empty and the Dodgers leading 2-1 in the sixth when he plunked the Padres outfielder in the left arm. Quentin stared out at Greinke, took a few steps towards the mound, and then decided to charge. Greinke dropped his glove, braced for the contact, and dropped his left shoulder into the charging outfielder. Catcher A.J. Ellis rushed out and tackled Quentin to the ground, and then it was “every man for himself” after that, as announcer Vin Scully said.

Greinke was replaced by pitcher Chris Capuano after suffering an injury, which was later revealed to be a broken collarbone. Center fielder Matt Kemp was ejected for going crazy during the brawl, and he was replaced by Skip Schumaker.

Kemp was likely fuming because he felt the Padres had thrown at him earlier in the game:

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Chicago Cubs prospect Jorge Soler may have a slight anger management issue to deal with before he makes his way to the Big Leagues. Soler plays for the team’s Class-A affiliate, the Daytona Cubs. On Wednesday night, Daytona lost 14-9 to the Clearwater Thresers in extra innings, but the thrill of extra frames took a backseat to the commotion Soler caused with his outburst in the seventh inning.

According to The Daytona Beach News-Journal (via the Chicago Tribune), the 21-year-old outfielder charged toward the Threshers’ dugout with a bat in his hand following the seventh. Prior to that, Soler had been involved in a confrontation with Clearwater’s Edgar Alonso after Soler slid into second base. The two reportedly exchanged words and had to be separated by teammates, but Soler apparently never cooled down and went after Alonso wielding a bat. Daytona manager Dave Keller said it was “kind of like a nightmare.”

“I think that he was frustrated by some things and there was some emotional things he was fighting with,” Keller said. “Why he did that, I don’t know. I think he was frustrated by what happened. When he slid into second base, (Alonso) ended up laying on top of him. He was laying on him so (Soler) pushed with his arm to get him off him, and I think the second baseman interpreted that the wrong way like he wanted to fight or something.”

Keller went on to describe the scene, which sounded like something straight out of Hollywood.

“There were two separate incidents, and there was really no fight,” he said. “But because nobody was around him when he was running across the field with a bat … that makes things a little bit crazy.”

Baseball fights like this and bench-clearing brawls like this are all part of the game, but running after someone with a bat takes things to a dangerous level. There’s no telling if Soler was actually going to to something with the bat, but the league has to assume he planned on using it as a weapon when deciding his punishment.

Mexico and Canada got into a big fight during the ninth inning of Canada’s 10-3 victory in Pool D play of the World Baseball Classic Saturday at Chase Field in Arizona.

The benches-clearing brawl resulted in eight ejections. The fight began after Canada catcher Chris Robinson bunted for a base hit with his team up 9-3 in the ninth. Mexico third baseman Luis Cruz felt Canada bunting with a six-run lead was disrespectful, so he encouraged pitcher Arnold Leon to hit the next batter.

In the video below, you can see Cruz make a gesture that appears to instruct Leon to hit the next batter:

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UC Riverside and Sacramento State began their four-game series Friday night with a bang. The teams got into a bench-clearing brawl during the top of the third inning which led to suspensions for three players.

According to NBC Los Angeles, UCR shortstop Eddie Young was caught in a rundown after trying to advance from second to third on a laser to the Sacramento State shortstop. Young was tagged out by Sac State second baseman Andrew Ayers, the reigning WAC player of the year, who appeared to push him after applying the tag. The two exchanged words, and Young retaliated by slapping Ayers in the face. After Young missed on a second punch, he was wrestled to the ground by Sac State third baseman Will Soto Jr. The benches then cleared.

The Sacramento Bee says Ayers, Young, and UCR catcher Drake Zarate will all be suspended four games. NCAA rules state that players ejected for fighting get suspended four games.

UCR won the game 2-1 and is now 2-3 on the season. Sac State is now 1-3.

H/T Kyle Gunther

When Nelson Cruz was hit by a pitch in the ninth inning of the Rangers win over the Royals on Monday, nobody was surprised. Earlier in the game, Cruz hit a towering home run off of Bruce Chen and stood at home plate for a moment to admire it. Opposing pitchers generally dislike being shown up like that, so many thought Kansas City reliever Louis Coleman did what he had to do in plunking the Rangers slugger. Cruz disagreed.

As soon as he was hit in the back, Cruz stared at Coleman and began walking toward the mound. The benches cleared and everything remained under control, but Royals announcers for Fox Sports Kansas City Ryan Lefebvre and Rex Hudler blasted Cruz anyway.

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When I was a young kid, I used to love going to AHL hockey games for one reason: the fights. The ultimate goal for an AHL player is usually to play in the NHL, so they generally want it more than NHL players.  No aspect of the game is better at highlighting that than the fights.  Apparently the same is true for minor league baseball.

Deadspin called our attention to a great brawl that took place recently between the Class A affiliates of of the Rangers and Blue Jays.  There are two special things about the fight: real punches are exchanged, and the war begins after a grounder to second base.  Have a look at the Spokane Indians and Vancouver Canadians fight video:

If you need a point of comparison, just check out this recent fight video from the MLB.  Told you the minor leaguers want it more.

David Ortiz and Kevin Gregg got into the baseball fight of the season Friday night. The tension began early in the 8th inning at-bat when Ortiz stared out at Gregg after the first pitch was thrown inside. The next pitch was also inside. Ortiz pointed at Gregg and took a few steps towards him, causing both dugouts to clear. After things were settled, Gregg got Ortiz to fly out, sparking this brawl:

Given all the swinging and missing, I’m surprised this didn’t happen at a Padres-Nationals game. Seriously though, that’s easily our best baseball fight of the year (not counting this awesome minor league brawl). Few fights will top the high school football brawl we posted this week, but that is close, in terms of baseball fights.

Kevin Gregg and David Ortiz were both ejected as you could imagine. Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Jim Johnson also got tossed. Suspensions should be expected as well.

Video via Jose3030

UPDATE: The Orioles players seemed to be most upset by Ortiz swinging 3-0 in a 10-3 game.