Tempers flared and punches were thrown Tuesday night at American Family Field. Benches cleared between the Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays when Abner Uribe and Jose Siri had words near first base, and Uribe took a swing at Siri. The Rays outfielder fought back and both benches quickly emptied.
Relevant context: Siri hit a home run against Freddy Peralta in the third inning, admired it a bit (but not excessively), and Peralta then hit him in the behind with a 3-0 fastball in the sixth inning.
Home plate umpire Chris Guccione deemed the plunking intentional and ejected Peralta and Brewers manager Pat Murphy.
In the eighth inning Uribe got Siri to ground out harmlessly to first base. Rhys Hoskins fielded the ball and flipped to Uribe at first for the out, and when Siri got the bag, Uribe appeared to say something to him.
The two came together — first base umpire Alex MacKay got between then — then Uribe took a swing at Siri. Here is Siri’s home run, Peralta plunking Siri, and Uribe and Siri duking it out:
Siri and Uribe were both ejected following the brawl. As the instigator, Uribe is certainly looking at a suspension. Peralta possibly as well if the league determines he hit Siri intentionally.
This is not the first time this season the Brewers have had beef with another team. On Opening Day, New York Mets second baseman Jeff McNeil took exception to the way Hoskins slid into second base, and the benches eventually. No punches were thrown, though Hoskins did call McNeil a crybaby from the dugout.
Siri’s home run wasn’t enough for the Rays. The Brewers won Tuesday’s game 8-2 (box score) thanks in part to a three-run home run by former Ray Willy Adames. The win improved Milwaukee to 17-11. The Rays fell to 14-17.
