Benches clear after O's McCann, Crew's Adames exchange words
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BALTIMORE -- On a wet, windy Friday night at Camden Yards, things got heated between the Brewers and the Orioles during the sixth inning of the series opener between the two teams, an 11-1 Milwaukee win over Baltimore.
As Milwaukee’s Willy Adames stepped up for his fourth plate appearance of the game, he got into a disagreement with Baltimore catcher James McCann. According to Adames, it was the result of a “misunderstanding” from earlier in the game, although nobody from either team divulged many additional details.
Adames said McCann started the conversation as Adames approached the batter’s box.
“And I responded,” Adames said. “That’s how it goes. That’s the game. Something happens, and you just respond to it. I am going to keep it there without saying anything bad.”
Both teams’ benches cleared and pitchers poured out of the bullpens in left-center field.
Home-plate umpire Adam Hamari attempted to separate Adames and McCann before members of both teams arrived just to the right of home plate. Adames was seen making a hand gesture that indicated he didn’t like what McCann had said.
During the heated discussion, McCann pointed at Adames numerous times. While the altercation dissipated between both teams, Brewers manager Pat Murphy and Orioles skipper Brandon Hyde had an animated talk with a pair of umpires standing between them, helping to prevent the situation from escalating. Nobody was ejected.
Adames then stepped into the box and hit an infield single off the sixth pitch he saw from right-hander Jonathan Heasley.
An inning earlier, Adames had slugged a three-run homer that pushed Milwaukee’s lead to 7-1. However, he later said the home run had nothing to do with what ignited the fracas. Meanwhile, McCann said it wasn’t between him and Adames, but rather “something else going on.”
“Something happened on the field. We took care of it,” McCann said.
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Neither manager wanted to add any further information regarding the incident.
“I’m not going to comment on it, honestly,” Hyde said. “It’s just one of those things we’re going to keep in-house.”
“That kind of stuff, I don’t know,” Murphy said. “I don’t want to talk about anything like that.”
The O’s and Crew will continue their series with the middle contest of a three-game set on Saturday at 4:05 p.m. ET/3:05 p.m. CT.