Jose Ramirez of the Cleveland Guardians and Tim Anderson of the Chicago White Sox were both removed from Saturday's game after trading fists in the bottom of the sixth inning.
This sparked a confrontation in which both managers were ejected.
Ramirez had advanced to second on a double, eluding Anderson's tag. Ramirez continued arguing with Anderson while on the ground, then pointed at him as he rose up.
Anderson flung down his glove and raised his fists, just like a hockey player before a fight. Ramirez put Anderson out with a right to the face after the two traded blows.
"I felt like I was able to land one," Ramirez remarked following the game.As teammates kept the two players apart, the benches and bullpens vacated.
The melee erupted once more, this time with White Sox manager Pedro Grifol in the center of it.
"I didn't appreciate that Anderson, once he had 11-12 guys in between them, that's when he started (yelling)," said Guardians manager Terry Francona following the White Sox's 7-4 victory. "I told him something. That's what their manager was raving about, I believe."
Along with the first two combatants, Grifol and Francona were expelled, as were Guardians third base coach Mike Sarbaugh and pitcher Emmanuel Clase.
Ramirez stated that the tag was a problem.He tagged me really hard, more than I needed, and his reaction was like, 'I want to fight,'" he explained. "And if he wants to fight, I wanted to defend myself."
Grifol refused to comment on the brawl or his ejection."I'm going to let MLB figure this out," he declared. "They've got some work to do."