Cold play! Chris Martin admits he started a brawl because he hates bunting with a passion

Boston Red Sox reliever Chris Martin revealed why the bench-clearing brawl occurred in their 2-1 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday.

Martin got into it with Brewers first base coach Quintin Berry as he walked toward his dugout after recording the final out in the top of the seventh inning. At first glance, it appeared the latter was the instigator in the situation. But after the game, the former told reporters he started it after taking offense to Milwaukee bunting twice against him.

Bunt against Chris Martin at your own peril

Mac Cerullo of the Boston Herald posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) that Martin said the incident arose from a comment he made "under his breath." Be that as it may, it was loud enough for Berry to hear -- and we saw what transpired from there.

If there is anything we can take away from the skirmish on Sunday, Martin really hates bunting. While that feels like a silly reason to stir up controversy in a closely contested game, it is hard not to admire the 37-year-old right-hander's passion. Was this an attempt to get his teammates jacked up?

Martin allowed one hit and no runs in his lone inning of relief on Sunday, throwing six pitches. He threw three total pitches against the first three batters he faced, finishing with a count of six. 

Was Martin hoping for additional time on the mound? Maybe he knew he was getting pulled for setup man Justin Slaten, and that's why he got frustrated. Regardless, he did his job and kept the game tied at 1-1 before Boston eventually took the lead in the bottom of the eighth.

As we see with most quarrels in the MLB, it never escalated beyond the Red Sox and Brewers emptying their dugouts and jawing at each other. Ultimately, it blew over, and Boston went on to win 2-1 to close out the three-game series against Milwaukee.