There was some chaos in the Chinese Professional Baseball League this morning. Things started calmly enough with some typical fanfare and a messy double play attempt in the fourth inning. A player mishandled the ball, but instead of just being an error, it sparked a rule check. One team questioned whether the bat being used was legal. The umpire looked into it and declared the bat fine, though it apparently had a weird design that looked like a human head on an animal’s body.
Later in the inning, tension escalated. Pitcher Henry Sosa threw three straight inside pitches to one batter, who was allegedly the one accusing the other team of using illegal equipment. On the fourth pitch, Sosa hit the batter right in the back pocket. The catcher tried to defuse the situation, pointing out that he wasn’t involved in any targeting. The batter didn’t react much, but the benches still cleared. It looked like tempers would boil over, but aside from one hard shove, things cooled down quickly. Neither the batter nor the catcher seemed too upset, and both teams walked it off.
Sosa later said he was standing up for his teammates, then spit awkwardly onto the field, clearly hoping no one saw how weak it looked. After some discussion, the umpires decided no ejections were needed and play resumed.