Benches clear briefly between Cards, Brewers

MILWAUKEE -- Tempers flared briefly during the eighth inning of the Brewers' 2-1 victory over the Cardinals on Friday night at Miller Park, after Yairo Muñoz and Eric Sogard traded words following a play at second base. But after the game, both characterized the incident as a misunderstanding.
"We got caught up in the moment," Munoz said. "He didn't say anything [bad] at all. I just want to leave it at that."
"The first words that came out of my mouth were, 'Are you all right?'" Sogard said. "I don't know if he understood what I was saying, but he got a little mad and I guess we both got a little fired up."

With the score tied at 1, Munoz and Sogard collided when Cardinals reliever Jordan Hicks threw to second after fielding an attempted sacrifice bunt by Hernán Pérez. Hicks fired to get the lead runner, but his throw led Munoz into Sogard, who slid into the base and was out on the play. Teammates of both players rushed onto the field in the moments that followed, and the conflict fizzled shortly after. No one was ejected.
"The ball just took me into where he was coming," Munoz said. "I don't think [the slide] was inappropriate or anything."
It was an important play in the flow of the game. Hicks took a chance throwing to second, and it proved large when he walked Christian Yelich two batters later to set up a two-on, two-out situation for Lorenzo Cain. Hicks struck out Cain to strand the potential go-ahead run at second. The Brewers won an inning later when Jesús Aguilar walked it off with a solo home run off Bud Norris, largely overshadowing the spark of fireworks that came before.
"It was just kind of a heat of the moment thing," Sogard said. "I'm glad it didn't escalate into anything further."