CLEVELAND — It's something you don't see often at Guardians games—but a brawl that broke out at second base between Cleveland third baseman José Ramírez and Chicago White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson cleared the benches numerous times and led to multiple ejections.
In the sixth inning of the game at Progressive Field, with Cleveland down 5-0, Ramírez was running to second, sliding into the bag where Anderson stood.
The two exchanged what seemed to be heated words before Anderson threw off his glove and put his fists up.
Ramírez answered back by putting up his fists and Anderson swung, missing Ramírez with an intented punch.
From there, chaos ensued. Ramírez threw a punch back while being restrained by other White Sox players, but connected on his swing, hitting Anderson square in the jaw and seeming to knock him out cold.
A moment later, Anderson was back on his feet and looking to continue the fight. Benches cleared, and the two players were restrained from further contact, with Anderson quickly thrown from the field.
As the situation should have been winding down, another skirmish between coaches and a few players broke out, with both teams once again clearing the benches. Anderson reappeared on the field, once again attempting to fight.
A long delay ensued as umps determined who needed to be ejected.
In the end, Anderson; Ramírez; Guardians manager Terry Francona, third base coach Mike Sarbaugh and closer Emmanuel Clase; and White Sox manager Pedro Grifol were all ejected.
The Guardians attempted to rally, scoring four runs, one of which Ramírez brought in on his double that led to the fight, and another right after the brawl—but the White Sox put up two more runs themselves and Cleveland dropped the game to Chicago, 7-4.
Francona spoke about the fight after the game, saying he wasn't exactly sure what all happened but believes it began with some back-and-forth chirping between Anderson and Guardians' Gabriel Arias earlier in the game.
"I'm not sure I know everything. Before it started I know that Anderson was yelling at Arias," Francona said. "Things got away from everybody."
After the game, Ramírez also spoke about the incident. He said he's never been ejected before Saturday's brawl because he "loves the game" and "respects the game." However, he said Anderson tagged him too hard during his slide into second and after he stood over him, said disrespectful things.
"He said he wanted to fight and if he wanted to fight I had to defend myself," he said.
But when asked if he knew he knocked Anderson down, Ramírez was honest.
"I felt I was able to land one."
Saturday's game was the fourth in the last 20 seasons of MLB in which both managers and at least one player on each team were ejected, according to ESPN.
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