Feud between Bumgarner, Puig flares again
Benches clear after Giants pitcher takes exception to Dodgers outfielder
LOS ANGELES -- Dodgers right fielder Yasiel Puig and Giants left-hander Madison Bumgarner resumed their hostilities Monday night, prompting both benches and bullpens to empty by jawing at each other in a seventh-inning confrontation of Los Angeles' 2-1 walk-off win.
It all began when Puig, who doubled in the second inning for the lone hit off Bumgarner, tapped a comebacker. Bumgarner fielded the ball between the mound and first base and threw to Brandon Belt for the out.
Television cameras caught both players looking at each other when Bumgarner appeared to say, "Don't look at me." The mutual enmity continued to rise from there with both players having to be restrained, Puig by first-base coach George Lombard and Bumgarner by first baseman Brandon Belt. No punches were thrown, however.
After the game, both players had different sides of the story.
"I just ran," Puig said. "He was looking in my direction. He asked me why I was looking in his direction and I then asked him why he was looking at me. That's it."
"I didn't hear what was going on. He tried to stare me down or something. That's what it looked like to me," Bumgarner said.
• Vin Scully's call of the Bumgarner-Puig incident
As far as how their teammates took it, the Giants had little to say while the Dodgers squarely placed the blame on Bumgarner and even had a little fun with the whole occurrence.
Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen warned third baseman Justin Turner to not look at reporters as he talked with them in a postgame scrum. Puig suggested Bumgarner might have been angry he had the only hit of the night against him.
"That wasn't Puig's fault," Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw said. "Kind of looked like [Bumgarner] was saying don't look at him. We all know Bum's pretty intense out there, but he definitely stirred the fire on that one. He was asking for it. I don't know what he expected to happen."
Said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts: "All I know is Yasiel took a check swing, ran hard down the baseline and didn't say a thing. He heard something from Bumgarner and he responded. I know our guy didn't initiate."
Bumgarner was taken out of the game in the next half-inning when Giants manager Bruce Bochy pinch-hit Mac Williamson for him, despite Bumgarner sitting at 97 pitches and dealing.
Puig and Bumgarner's feud began during the 2014 season, when the pitcher took exception to the slugger's bat flip following a home run. Later in the year, Bumgarner hit Puig with a pitch.
"Those two like each other a lot. Probably go out to breakfast every morning they're in town," Turner joked. "There always seems to be something going on between those two. Makes it fun, though, makes you stay on your toes, and makes the game exciting. I'm sure the fans loved it."