The New York Mets have once again been involved in a bench-clearing incident, this time against the St. Louis Cardinals.
The first two games of the Mets-Cardinals series featured eight total hit batters, including three Mets hit batters on Tuesday. The situation carried over into Wednesday, when New York’s J.D. Davis was hit by a pitch on the ankle and forced to leave the game.
Yet another Mets hit batsman — their league-leading 19th — and it appears to have gotten J.D. Davis on a sensitive spot. He's leaving the game following a fastball to the left foot/ankle area.
Hit enough batters, someone will eventually get hurt. pic.twitter.com/q1uA7ibaNl
— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) April 27, 2022
Mets pitcher Yoan Lopez threw up and in on Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado to open the next half inning. Arenado took exception, and the benches quickly cleared. No punches were thrown, but Cardinals coach Stubby Clapp tackled Pete Alonso at one point during the altercation.
Here's that full benches-clearing sequence. You can see Cardinals coach Stubby Clapp throwing Pete Alonso to the ground around the 0:24 mark. pic.twitter.com/sTgo1hyvY4
— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) April 27, 2022
Only Clapp and Arenado were ejected from the game.
The Mets have been involved in a lot of this since the start of the season. Mets hitters had been hit by pitches 18 times on the season coming into Wednesday’s game, leading the league by a significant margin. They have been involved in one bench-clearing incident previously, and if their batters keep getting hit this often, there may be more to come.
Notably, manager Buck Showalter has said he does not think the Mets are being targeted, but urged MLB to do something about pitchers struggling to grip the baseball.
