The Washington Nationals and Pittsburgh Pirates found themselves at odds on Sunday after a fake tag potentially led to a hand injury for Bryce Harper.
It started when Harper tripled down the right field line and hurt his left wrist on the slide. The slide wasn’t necessary as the throw badly missed the cutoff men and the baseball wasn’t anywhere near third, but Pirates third baseman Jung-Ho Kang faked a tag anyway, which may have spurred Harper to go in headfirst.
Judge for yourself:
The Nationals, at least, were very unhappy.
Now Dusty getting into it with the Pirates dugout. They aren't happy about Kang's fake tag. Everybody's calmed down now, Harper staying in.
— Mark Zuckerman (@MarkZuckerman) September 25, 2016
While Harper stayed in initially, he eventually left the game. The Nationals have clinched the division, so it may be precautionary, but when Kang next came to bat, pitcher A.J. Cole retaliated.
A.J. Cole throws one behind Jung Ho Kang's head, umpire Jordan Baker immediately ejects him, and here we go… Dugouts empty. It's ugly.
— Mark Zuckerman (@MarkZuckerman) September 25, 2016
Believe Sean Rodriguez and Ollie Perez were the two yelling at each other after the ejection, which led to the benches and bullpens emptying
— Mark Zuckerman (@MarkZuckerman) September 25, 2016
Whole lotta harrumph and chest beating, but no blows for #Nats and #pirates pic.twitter.com/URHjhiXcgr
— Rob Biertempfel (@BiertempfelTrib) September 25, 2016
Interestingly, last season Kang was on the other end of another controversial, more gruesome play. You can understand why the Nationals aren’t pleased, but Kang wasn’t trying to get anybody hurt.
