Not again! Royals brawl with White Sox leads to five ejections
The Kansas City Royals can't seem to avoid trouble this season. They were at it again Thursday, this time taking on the Chicago White Sox.*
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Things started in the bottom of the seventh inning. With two outs, White Sox outfielder Adam Eaton hit a comebacker to Yordano Ventura. As Eaton was running to first, Ventura appeared to yell a not so friendly phrase at him.
Eaton appeared to have said something to Ventura after hitting the ground ball.
The replay shows Eaton saying something after contact. I guess we'll have to find out postgame what was the exchange.
— Scott Merkin (@scottmerkin)
April 24, 2015
At that moment, both benches cleared. At first, it seemed like a normal baseball bruhaha. There was a lot of pushing and shoving, but no punches were thrown.*
http://l.yimg.com/os/en_us/News/gett...052958-299.jpgThat didn't last. White Sox pitcher Jeff Samardzija went after Royals outfielder Lorenzo Cain, causing a scrum on the field. As Samardzija charged at Cain, one Royals player, possibly Edinson Volquez, took a swing at Samardzija.
Samardzija was eventually separated from the fray. He was held back by Geovany Soto, his teammate with both the Cubs and Athletics.
Once the fight was over, the umpires gathered to figure out which players needed to be ejected from the contest. For the White Sox, that wound up being Samardzija and starting pitcher Chris Sale. Sale was still in the game at that point, though had thrown 99 pitches, so it was unclear whether he would have returned for the next inning.
The Royals lost Ventura, Cain and pitcher Edinson Volquez for the rest of the contest. For Ventura, this is the second straight game in which he has been ejected. Ventura was sent to the showers early against Oakland after hitting Brett Lawrie on the elbow with a pitch. Ventura was fined, but not suspended, for his actions.
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Given his recent history, it would be surprising if Ventura escapes this one without missing some time. Samardzija is also probably in line for a suspension. It's unclear whether Sale or Cain will be punished once Major League Baseball is able to review the entire brawl. Also, if Volquez was the player who threw the punch at Samardzija, it's likely he'll miss a start or two.
Following the game, both Eaton and Ventura attempted to downplay the situation.
Eaton: "Sometimes boys will be boys and I think that was a situation where we had some excitement."
— Scott Merkin (@scottmerkin)
April 24, 2015
Yordano Ventura was contrite and apologetic. He took responsibility for sparking the brawl. He said he needs to control his emotions better.
— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughStar)
April 24, 2015
This is, obviously, not the first time the Royals have been involved in a brawl this season. They've already developed an ongoing rivalry with the Athletics. The two aren't set to play again until June.
That's not the case with Chicago. These two teams will have to play each other 15 more times this season, including the next three days. Given the comments made by both sides after the game, there's hope cooler heads will prevail this weekend.
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