The last time the New York Yankees met the Baltimore Orioles, tensions flared after Aaron Judge was hit by a pitch and sustained a minor hand injury. A day later, Yankee relief pitcher hit Victor Gonzalez and hit Gunnar Henderson back in what seemed a tit-for-tat moment.
That being said, the seed of the rivalry sown at Yankee Stadium erupted into a big fire at Camden Yards on Friday. Another hit-by-pitch incident led to a big brawl as both side’s benches got cleared. A large-scale physical fight broke out, which has only added more spice to the already competitive series.
Orioles Manager Loses Cool As Big Shuffle Breaks Out In Yankees Series Opener
The New York Yankees snapped out of their losing streak with a 4-1 victory over Al-East rival Baltimore Orioles on Friday. However, in the ninth inning, the Yanks’ win was overshadowed by a physical brawl that broke out between both teams. All hell broke lose when Clay Holmes’ 97 mph sinker hit rookie Heston Kjerstad’s ear. Heston was rattled by the hit and immediately fell to the ground before catcher Austin Wells and Holmes checked upon him. Holmes apologised and argued that it wasn’t intentional before Orioles manager Brandon Hyde stormed into the field while pointing fingers at the Yankee dugout. He was yelling at the top of his voice, and Orioles players rushed to support their manager.
Austin Wells tried his best to stop Hyde from charging further. However, things escalated in the blink of an eye as both the benches got cleared, and punches were thrown in a major physical altercation. Umpires tried to calm Brandon Hyde and Aaron Judge, who rushed all the way from centre field, jumped into the middle like a wall to separate the two teams. Meanwhile, Hyde revealed that raw emotions spilled over in the heat of the moment as he saw his player getting brutally drilled. On top of that, Yanks dugout’s constant chirping irked him to the extent that he lost his cool. Meanwhile, Heston is getting tested, and Hyde had no injury update on him. On the other hand, Aaron Judge defended Clay Holmes, stating the pitch wasn’t intentionally thrown and that tensions had boiled over between the two competitive sides for a while.
Aaron Boone Sympathise With Brandon Hyde
Meanwhile, New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone refused to blame Brandon Hyde for the ugly feud. “One of your guys gets hit like that; it’s scary. So I understand that,” Boone said. However, Boone also backed his relief pitcher while explaining that due to rainy weather, Holmes, like many other pitchers, was struggling to get the command right.
The bat and balls were slipping which resulted into a wild pitch. But by no means Clay Holmes wanted to drill Orioles players and play the ugly game. Holmes, on the other hand, expects the competitive atmosphere to sustain for the weekend as top two AL-East teams are up against each other at a crucial stage of the season.
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