2019 MLB figures getting coal from Santa Claus this Christmas
By Bill Felber
2019 MLB figures getting coal from Santa Claus
The Pirates and Reds
Three words that were not heard during any of the 19 occasions when the NL Central rivals met during 2019: Play nice, boys.
The meetings between the division’s two worst teams basically amounted to an ongoing slugfest. Although both sides confirmed that the bad will carried over from 2018, it broke out in the open in April when Derek Dietrich slammed a Chris Archer pitch into the Allegheny and then took time out to admire his own work. The next time Dietrich came up, Archer threw behind Dietrich, precipitating a benches-clearing brawl in which Reds outfielder Yasiel Puig challenged the whole Pirates dugout.
A month later, Pirates pitcher Clay Holmes hit Eugenio Suarez. Knocking him out of the game. Holmes was ejected.
Then during a Reds pitching change in the ninth inning of their July 31 game, the ousted pitcher, Amir Garrett, left the mound on course for the Pirate dugout, where he proceeded to challenge the team.
In the brawl that ensued, managers David Bell and Clint Hurdle squared off with each other. Puig, Garrett, and Bell were ejected, as were Archer and Pirate teammates Kyle Crick and Francisco Cervelli.
Two days later, MLB handed out suspensions to Garrett, Crick, Puig, as well as Keone Kela, Jose Osuna, and Jared Hughes. Bell and Hurdle were both also suspended.