Matt Kemp was taken to the ground on Thursday when benches cleared during the San Diego Padres-Atlanta Braves game. You might be surprised by who brought him down.
Kemp was hit on the left arm by a Julio Teheran fastball on a 1-2 count with two outs in the first. He reacted by slamming his bat toward the dugout, which Teheran seemed to take offense to. Kemp and Teheran then began jawing at each other and the benches cleared.
The “brawl” ended up being anything but, with both teams standing around yelling at each other. However, home plate umpire Jordan Baker did pancake Kemp when Kemp tried to go around him to get to Teheran.
It wouldn’t make much sense for Teheran to hit Kemp intentionally in that situation, but tensions were high heading into the game after the Padres took exception to the following slide from Andrelton Simmons on Tuesday night:
Padres outfielder Justin Upton was hit by a pitch during Wednesday’s game, but San Diego’s pitchers hadn’t hit anyone.
Anyway, that was tame compared to some of the baseball fights we have shown you in the past. But if you wanted to see Matt Kemp getting taken out by an umpire, you’re welcome.
H/T Eye on Baseball
