The Atlanta Braves suffered an implosion and then an explosion during Saturday’s game against the Miami Marlins.
The NL East leaders scored three times in the ninth inning to open up a 6-2 lead, only to allow the Marlins to plate four runs in the bottom half to send the game into extras. Martin Prado then hit a walkoff sacrifice fly in the bottom of the tenth to give Miami the victory.
The Athletic’s David O’Brien reported afterwards that someone kicked a trash can by the Braves dugout into a nearby fire extinguisher, breaking it open and sending chemical dust spewing all over the hall and throughout the clubhouse.
Gabriel Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution added that an unidentified Braves player was the culprit and that the hats and jerseys of players, coaches, reporters, and team employees were all covered in powder.
Though Atlanta still leads their division by a healthy 6.5 games, their bullpen has certainly been cause for frustration, especially with the flurry of relievers they acquired at the trade deadline not appearing to make a difference yet.
One silver lining though (no pun intended) is that the powder will dissipate at some point without any longer-term bearing. The same could not be said unfortunately about the last extinguisher-related incident we saw in sports.
