The Miami Marlins were not likely to find fault with Milwaukee Brewers’ pitcher Mike Fiers after he inadvertently hit Giancarlo Stanton in the face with a pitch on Thursday night. It clearly was not on purpose, after all, and Fiers was visibly shook up by the incident according to those who are covering the game live.
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The ugliness of that scene was still sure to put the Marlins on edge, however, especially because the play involved the face of the Miami franchise in Stanton. It only made things worse from Miami’s perspective that the play was actually called a strike because Stanton started to swing and was deemed to go around.
With the tension already high, Fiers picked a terrible time to have another pitch get away. It was his very next pitch, in fact, to pinch-hitter Reed Johnson, in which he hit another batter. Not only that, it was another pitch that was called a swing instead of a hit-by-pitch.
As presented by the accounts of writers covering the game, it was at that point that the Marlins lost their collective mind, led by manager Mike Redmond.
Fiers' very next pitch after Stanton leaves the field on a mini-ambulance hits the replacement batter on the hand, and benches clear.
— Adam McCalvy (@AdamMcCalvy) September 12, 2014
And Fiers hits pinch-hitter Reed Johnson on the hand with the next pitch and the benches have emptied. It is madness now.
— Tom (@Haudricourt) September 12, 2014
Now Marlins manager Mike Redmond is letting the umpires have it. A bad scene all the way around.
— Tom (@Haudricourt) September 12, 2014
Someone in the middle of that was ejected, and a furious Casey McGehee is led off the field by his teammates. Mass confusion at Miller Park.
— Adam McCalvy (@AdamMcCalvy) September 12, 2014
Emotions are clearly running high on both sides after what happened to Stanton, as Fiers was also upset as the situation escalated. The rather fluky fact that both hit-by-pitches were called swinging strikes does not help things, especially from the perspective of the umpires.
Hopefully these teams can get to the end of this game before any further ugliness or risks to injure key players.
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