Tempers flared during Sunday’s game between the Miami Marlins and New York Mets after a batter was hit by a pitch, and a heated exchange led to both benches clearing.
The Mets were trailing 5-0 and had a runner on first with nobody out in the bottom of the seventh inning at Citi Field in Queens, N.Y. Marlins starting pitcher Sandy Alcantara threw a fastball that got away from him and just barely grazed Mets designated hitter Mark Vientos, who was awarded first base.
Vientos stared at Alcantara for a couple of seconds and seemed annoyed that he was hit. Alcantara then began jawing at Vientos before home plate umpire Austin Jones tried to get Alcantara back to the mound to cool off.
Things escalated from there and both dugouts emptied.
The benches and bullpens cleared after Sandy Alcántara hit Mark Vientos pic.twitter.com/A9JXpeFII3
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Alcantara was absolutely cruising before he allowed a leadoff single to Jeff McNeil and then hit Vientos. There is no way he would have wanted to go from a 5-0 lead to having two runners on with nobody out, so it made no sense for Vientos to think there was any intent.
The situation cooled down quickly, and Alcantara got the next two batters to each ground into a fielder’s choice. The Mets scored a run to cut the deficit to 5-1, but Alcantara struck out Sterling Marte to end the inning.
Miami went on to win the game, so the bench-clearing incident was not enough to light a fire under the Mets. New York lost three of four in the series and is now 6.5 games behind the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East.
