The game between the Cleveland Guardians and the Chicago White Sox got physical Saturday night (August 5) when Guardians third baseman José Ramírez and White Sox second baseman Tim Anderson came to blows during the sixth inning.
Ramírez slid headfirst into second base, and Anderson delivered a hard tag on him. Ramírez didn’t take kindly to the play and let Anderson know about it when he stood up. That led to Anderson throwing down his glove before the two squared up against one another and started throwing punches.
Ramirez got the best of Anderson when one of his haymakers connected with Anderson’s face and dropped him to the ground. The players were quickly separated by teammates. After the game, Ramírez, who is from the Dominican Republic, explained what happened between him and Anderson.
“He’s been disrespecting the game for a while,” Ramírez said via translation when speaking to Bally Sports Cleveland. “I even had the chance to tell him [earlier] during the game, ‘Don’t do this stuff. That’s disrespectful. Don’t start tagging people like that because, in reality, we’re here trying to find ways to provide for our families.’ And when he does things he does on the bases, he can get somebody out of the game.”
Since Ramírez’s request to Anderson to settle down was ignored, it triggered his reaction when Anderson hit him with the hard tag. “I was telling him to stop doing that, and then as soon as that play happened, he tagged me again really hard, more than needed,” Ramírez said. “And then he had the reaction, he said I want to fight, and if you want to fight, I have to defend myself.”
When the dust cleared, José Ramírez, Tim Anderson, Guardians pitcher Emmanuel Clase, Guardians manager Terry Francona, Guardians coach Mike Sarbaugh and White Sox manager Pedro Grifol were ejected. The White Sox won the game, 7-4.
As for what comes next, Grifol said that he wasn’t going to comment on it according to Daryl Van Schouwen, “I’m going to let MLB figure it out, do their investigation and watch the video. They have some work to do.”