It was an epic baseball brawl in the Pacific Coast League, with nine players and Aces manager Phil Nevin tossed after a benches-clearing incident between Reno and the Albuquerque Isotopes Saturday night.
Tensions had been rising between the two squads since an incident Friday night, when Isotopes third baseman Erisbel Arruebarrena took his time circling the bases after a home run. Taking exception to this, Aces pitcher Mike Bolsinger pitched inside to Arruebarrena his first time up Saturday. Taking exception to that, Arruebarrena shoved catcher Blake Lalli after striking out, and the brawl began.
“It was just one of those unfortunate incidents that happen in baseball sometimes,” Reno manager Phil Nevin said. “It looked like it was going to be one of those normal things where you come out and guys just stand around a little bit, but whenever you have somebody come fly into the pile and throw punches, things happen. It just escalated from there.”
The situation quickly spiraled into a melee behind home plate, with punches being thrown by both sides and several players being pushed into the netting, the only thing separating them from the first row of seats at Aces Ballpark.
“I think that’s kind of my job, to break things up,” Nevin said. “I’m too old for that stuff. It was pretty tough for me to get guys away when guys are throwing bats and helmets at people. It’s tough to keep guys off of other guys.”
After the dust settled, Navin, Arruebarrena and Lalli were among the 10 tossed. The Aces, by the way, won the game; Bolsinger ended up with the win.
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