A massive brawl broke out between the Fort Wayne TinCaps (San Diego Padres’ High-A affiliate) and South Bend Cubs (Chicago Cubs’ High-A affiliate) on Tuesday night at Four Winds Field in South Bend, IN.
The details and specifics are murky, because there was so much happening in this brawl, so fast. But there were clearly *a lot* of punches thrown, and there was even a baseball thrown during the brawl. A Fort Wayne player threw the baseball in the skirmish, and actually (accidentally) hit his teammate in the head. Once the baseball was thrown, the brawl really got chaotic.
https://twitter.com/MaxThoma/status/1397378687641788422
It appears that South Bend pitcher Brandon Hughes, catcher Jake Washer, and manager Michael Ryan were ejected, as well as Fort Wayne second baseman Kelvin Melean.
That seems incredibly light on ejections, but again- the scene was so out of hand that it was surely difficult for umpires to figure out who should get tossed. But there needs to be a thorough investigation into the matter, and especially to identify the player that fired a baseball into the crowd. That one is just especially unacceptable and should result in a very lengthy suspension.
The game was wild too. South Bend trailed 7-0 entering the sixth inning, and came back to win 12-10. Oh, and these teams still face each other *five more times* this week. Tuesday night was Game 1 of a six-game series.