Wednesday’s game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Washington Nationals got ugly in a hurry.
During the seventh inning, Pirates veteran Andrew McCutchen was up at the plate against Nationals reliever Jorge Lopez. On a 2-2 count with two runners on and Pittsburgh already leading 2-0, Lopez threw a pitch that made a beeline for McCutchen’s head, forcing McCutchen to duck out of the way.
As the umpires were deciding whether or not to eject Lopez, he started jawing with an unhappy McCutchen, and both benches promptly cleared. Here is the video of the incident (which ultimately did end up with Lopez indeed getting tossed).
Pirates outfielder Bryan Reynolds also got plunked by Lopez on the at-bat immediately before McCutchen’s. Social media users noted that Lopez may have still been upset about both Reynolds and McCutchen homering off him when he was a member of the Chicago Cubs last season.
You may also recall that Lopez is the pitcher who was cut by the New York Mets last May after an ugly incident in which he was ejected for arguing a check-swing call with an umpire and then proceeded to throw his glove into the stands and make some questionable postgame comments.
McCutchen, a five-time All-Star and former NL MVP for the Pirates, is a very beloved player in their locker room. With Reynolds getting plunked right before that and then McCutchen almost taking a ball straight to the dome, it is no wonder that the benches cleared there (especially given Lopez’s history of dubious behavior).
