Tempers flare as Red Sox, Rockies benches clear

DENVER -- The top of the fourth was all over, and then there was yelling.

Rockies right-handed pitcher Cal Quantrill worked the Red Sox’s Reese McGuire into a flyout to center to end the top of the fourth with a runner on third in an eventual 20-7 victory for Colorado. The Rockies led at the time, 8-2, but the early part of the fourth got a little funky, with the Red Sox getting two on with no outs and eventually cashing a run against Quantrill.

So with the threat quashed, Quantrill lifted his right knee, clutched his fists and screamed loud enough to cut the heat and smoke from distant wildfires, not to mention be heard in every corner of Coors Field. Of course, Quantrill was headed toward the dugout, which meant he was facing McGuire -- who took exception.

Quantrill said he was not directing the scream toward McGuire.

“Listen, I recognize we were up by what we were up by, but I celebrate important outs,” Quantrill said. “He took offense to it. Words were exchanged. We move on.”

But from there, the two had an animated discussion that was entertaining to the crowd. Rockies catcher Jacob Stallings, who slugged a three-run homer in the third inning, leaped out to intercede.

“I saw it all unfold, because I was pumped,” Stallings said. “I was like, ‘Let’s go, Cal,’ and Cal was looking right at me. We wanted to leave that run [at third].

“I saw Reese, and I know Reese from our Pirates days. I knew Cal wasn’t yelling at Reese initially. I just wanted to calm things down before anything got too crazy.”

The benches and bullpens emptied, and much conversation was had.

Quantrill was happy to participate in the debate with McGuire, and others got in their points, notably the Red Sox’s Jarren Duran -- who took up for his teammate with a two-out homer in the top of the fifth, to cut Colorado's lead to 13-3.

Quantrill formerly pitched in the American League with the Guardians. Red Sox manager Alex Cora noted that Quantrill and his team have a quarrelsome history -- with a stare-down with Rafael Devers after a strikeout in Cleveland 2021 and a Devers homer in Cleveland in '22 serving as examples.

“I think it’s been going on for a while against him,” Cora said. “It started with Raffy in Cleveland. No big deal. The kid is a good pitcher. He did a good job. I don’t know what was said. At the end, the coaches did their job, separated each other and let’s finish that game. That’s what we needed to do.”

Rockies manager Bud Black left it as Quantrill pitching with emotion, as always.

“We’ve seen Cal numerous times -- big out, or the third out of the inning when there’s traffic or in a critical part of the game,” Black said. “We’ve seen him show emotion. So today was no different.

“We took our warnings from the umpires and continued to play baseball.”

Maybe there's something about the Red Sox and July 24, because Wednesday marked the 20th anniversary of the famous face-shoving fracas between Jason Varitek and Alex Rodriguez, a game that also happened to feature a pitching appearance from Paul Quantrill, father of Cal.