Yasiel Puig was partially responsible for the benches clearing during Tuesday night’s game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants after he got physical with Nick Hundley, and the star outfielder later explained his side of the story.
Speaking through an interpreter, Puig said he took offense to Hundley repeatedly telling him to get back in the batter’s box.
Yasiel Puig (via interpreter): “(Hundley) told me to stop complaining and step back in the box … he just kept coming after me and kept complaining. I wasn’t going to let them disrespect our house.”
— J.P. Hoornstra (@jphoornstra) August 15, 2018
The at-bat took place in the bottom of the 7th inning with the Dodgers trailing 1-0. Puig took a big swing and fouled off a pitch that he clearly felt he should have hammered, and he flipped his bat to himself in frustration. That’s when he got into it with Hundley.
Benches clear in Giants-Dodgers game with Nick Hundley and Yasiel Puig at the center of it. pic.twitter.com/r3ZHHdzL3A
— MLB (@MLB) August 15, 2018
Hundley chose not to go into detail about what sparked the fight.
“It’s not my job to comment on his behavior, like it’s not his job to comment on my behavior,” the Giants catcher said, per Ryan Gorcey of the San Francisco Examiner. “We all make our own choices, and we both made the choice to get in each other’s face, and we both made the choice to go at it.”
Puig appeared to take the first swipe at Hundley after the two exchanged words, and Hundley said he did not feel he should have been ejected from the game.
“They said that we went at each other, and obviously, I disagreed with being tossed,” he added. “It’s one of those things that I wish I was able to stay in the game, but that’s their call, and if you get into a brawl, you probably put yourself at the mercy of your decisions.”
The rivalry between the Dodgers and Giants is once again heating up with both teams fighting for a playoff spot and just three games separating them in the NL West. The last time we saw a noteworthy brawl between the two sides was in 2016, and Puig was also at the center of that.
