The New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays faced off in an AL East battle on Sunday. As division rivals, there is obviously plenty of animosity between the two teams. And tempers flared in the bottom of the eighth inning, as multiple incidents led to both teams clearing their benches onto the field twice in the inning.
Rays star outfielder Randy Arozarena led off the inning against Yankees relief pitcher Albert Abreu. And things didn’t get off to a good start, as Abreu plunked Arozarena with his fifth pitch of the at-bat.
Arozarena took exception to this, needing to be held back by both home-plate umpire Adam Beck and Yankees catcher Kyle Higashioka.
Arozarena was actually the fourth Rays batter to be hit by a Yankees pitcher in the game, so he certainly had a reason to be upset. As Arozarena continued to voice his frustrations to the umpire, both teams ran onto the field to confront each other.
Luckily things didn’t escalate, but this was far from the only drama to happen in the inning.
Arozarena took his frustration out on the Yankees by stealing both second and third base in the next at-bat. And after he stole third, it looks like Albert Abreu and Arozarena exchanged words, which led to another benches-clearing incident.
Luckily bother players were held back again and things didn’t go any further, but fans had plenty to say about the drama-filled inning on social media.
Arozarena spoke about the incidents after the game, where he claimed that he was upset throughout the inning because he believes that Abreu hit him intentionally.
“I think it was on purpose. If you look back at previous series, he’s hit me before, they hit and hurt Yandy (Diaz) the other day, and they hit (Isaac) Parades.”
Meanwhile, Abreu also spoke about the situation, saying that he did not intentionally try to hit Arozarena.
“He’s taking it very personal and I’m trying to explain ‘I’m not trying to hit you there’. It felt like he was trying to make fun of the situation or the fact that he stole two bases, I don’t know. Just heat of the moment there.”
Regardless of whether or not Arozarena was hit intentionally, it seems pretty clear that there is some bad blood between these two teams. The Rays got the last laugh in this game, winning the game 7-4.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.