Yankees and Rays benches clear twice, a breakdown
What Happened
In a tense matchup between the New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays, tempers flare as the benches clear not once, but twice in the bottom of the eighth inning. The Rays, who have clinched a playoff spot, are leading the Yankees, who are out of the postseason race, by two runs. Yankees pitcher Albert Abreu takes the mound and hits Randy Arozarena with a pitch, the 12th time a Yankee has hit a Rays batter this season, compared to just 11 times the other way around. Arozarena reacts angrily, spiking his bat, and Yankee catcher Jose Trevino thinks Arozarena might retaliate. The benches clear as both teams converge near home plate. Yankees star Aaron Judge positions himself at the front of his team, trying to keep the situation from escalating further. Rays manager Kevin Cash confronts Yankees manager Aaron Boone, expressing his frustration at the lopsided hit-by-pitch numbers. Boone acknowledges the Rays' concerns but maintains the Yankees did not intentionally hit their batters. The situation simmers down, and the umpires decide to issue warnings to both teams. However, tensions flare up again when Abreu's next pitch runs inside and nearly hits Trevino. Trevino protests, but Abreu insists he did not mean to hit him. Arozarena steals second base, then third, as the Rays continue to be aggressive on the basepaths. Abreu tries to deter Arozarena from stealing, leading to more words exchanged between the two players. Rays outfielder Jose Siri races to the mound, pleading with Abreu not to provoke Arozarena further, as the Rays are headed to the playoffs. Yankees pitcher Luis Severino, who had earlier lost his hat in the first bench-clearing incident, ditches it this time to avoid any issues. The rest of the Yankees surge out of the dugout, but ultimately, no major physical altercation takes place. The next batter for the Rays rips a hit that scores Arozarena, capitalizing on the tension and hit-by-pitches that had transpired. Despite the heated exchanges, the Rays emerge victorious, further solidifying their playoff position while the Yankees' postseason hopes continue to fade. The game serves as a microcosm of the rivalry between these two American League East foes.
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentThe Rays and the Yankees cleared the benches two times in this inning.
Rays are going to the playoffs.
Yankees are not.
Albert Abreu is pitching for the Yankees.
He has hit Randy Rosaraña already this year.
The Yankees have hit the Rays 12 times this season.
The Rays have hit the Yankees only two, actually 11 times.
Here comes the 12th.
The first pitch of the at-bat is a fastball.
Lowe falls behind.
Bottom of the eighth, they're down by two.
Next pitch, fastball down and in on that corner.
The ump gives it to him.
He says, all right.
So now he tries to break one.
And I don't know what Randy saw there, but look when he decides, nah.
Right here, his body starts pulling out right there.
Nah.
All his momentum, nah, that's not going to be for me.
I wonder if he saw something or if he was just doing a little head games there.
He had to know that wasn't a fastball, just calling his bluff.
I don't know.
Two and one, next pitch.
Again, Lowe, Randy, not interested.
Three and one, fastball again, runs in.
Ooh, hits him.
Hits him, and he goes to spike his bat, which Higgy thinks, are you going to hit me?
And Albert's like, oh, I didn't want to do that.
Randy's like, come on, man.
I don't like that.
Now, I had my guy, Joe's McFly, help with the Spanish lip reading here,
but I'm going to butcher the pronunciation.
He says, no fue maldad.
La segunda vez.
No fue maldad.
I spoke Spanish there.
You heard it.
That's right.
And that's what he's saying.
He's saying, there's no intent.
I didn't mean to.
And Randy's like, don't give a shit.
You did it twice.
Now the bench is clear.
And look at Seve running out on the Yankee side.
He's got his chain bouncing his hat.
Almost falls off.
No, it does fall off.
And he's got to continue without his hat.
Put that in your back pocket.
It's going to come up again later.
Now, they're all huddling around home plate.
They're all huddling around home plate.
Judge gets there first on the Yankee side.
And he's like, hey, everyone, I'm the front lines.
And you're not going to get past me.
Good job by Judge.
On the Rays side, you got guys taking Randy away.
And then in the middle, you have the two coaches.
And Cash is going to say to Boone, enough.
Enough.
12 times you've hit us.
We've only hit you twice.
Come on.
Boone agrees with him.
But he wants to make sure he knows that it's not on purpose.
No one's hitting anyone on purpose.
I promise you that.
But I hear you.
I hear you.
I understand.
I understand.
OK, I validate your feelings.
They're worthwhile.
But it wasn't on purpose.
We did not hit your guy on purpose.
But I agree.
I gotcha.
I understand.
I agree.
I hear you.
All the words that you can say for I agree.
Now, Randy, they're trying to get him to go to first base.
But Yandy Diaz got hit two games ago.
And he had to miss two games.
So he's pissed.
And then Armstrong, he's yelling.
And Randy's seeing this and thinking, I got to get out there.
If we're still fighting, I'm the main character here.
Let me go back out.
But nothing's really happening.
So all the Rays get held back by other Rays.
Yandy's mean mugging because he got hit as well.
And he's hurt.
And yeah, I mean, Boone's right.
They're right.
They should be upset.
And the umps get together and are like, let's do just warnings.
And like, yeah, just warnings.
Now, that's a two-seamer with run.
It runs all the way in.
Ooh, does he hit?
Higgy's like, hey, man, don't hit me.
Huh?
I didn't do anything.
And then Higgy gets out.
He's like, it's OK.
We didn't mean to.
Now, Randy's on first base.
Of course, he steals.
He steals second right away with ease.
Of course, he does.
He's mad about it.
Grabs the helmet.
Stands on second.
Brushes the dirt.
Now, Albert's going to, hey, get back there.
Don't you think about stealing third.
Punk him a little bit.
No one was even covering.
Randy's like, I didn't like that.
Kind of made me a fool.
I'd have died for no reason.
I'm going to steal third now.
Yeah, turn my hit-by pitch into a triple.
Why not?
There's no outs.
And he's off.
And another pitch that runs way insane.
Side.
Just like the pitch that hit him.
But doesn't hit the batter.
And he's safe at third.
And now Randy gets up.
And he's still mean mugging.
And he's just going to say something like, I don't know.
I'm guessing this is something like, worry about the pitch.
Yeah, why don't you try throwing strikes?
And Abreu's like, hey, man.
You got to third.
Like, cool it.
Just be quiet.
What?
Huh?
What?
What?
And then Siri, he's off to the races.
He beat his whole team out to the mound.
And who does he go to?
He goes to, yeah.
He goes to Abreu.
He's like, dude, don't fight Randy.
We're going to the postseason.
He's really good.
So just back off.
Now, Luizaga on the Yankees, he comes out to meet Randy.
And he's just like, hey, man.
No.
Hey.
Huh.
It's not worth it.
Right?
He doesn't know.
He just got no control.
It's all good.
Butt slap.
Massage.
He's getting groped all over.
Here's the dugout for the race.
And you can see Siri just beat the whole pack.
And once he goes, it's like, oh, I guess we're going.
And besides this coach, he's just like, eh, nah, mold.
I don't care.
The Yankees, Severino lost his hat last time.
This time, ditches the hat.
Knows it's going to be a problem.
Just throws it away.
And he's the first one out.
And then the rest of the Yankees jump.
And they go.
And then Canely was in the clubhouse.
And he's come storming out.
Trips over the steps.
Barrel rolls.
Smiles.
Goes to the middle of the pile where nothing happens at all.
Besides the mascot trying to fight everybody.
Get out of here, uggo.
I don't like you.
And then they go back to their places.
And nothing really happened.
And the next batter rips one and scores Randy.
So the hit-by-pitches start at the end and came back to hurt him.
Good team beats bad team.
And a butt slap.
And a little more than a butt slap if we're all monitoring it.
I don't know.
Mascot loves it, though.
Sure does.
Just a bunch of athletes being athletic, performing to the best of their abilities.
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Thanks for watching.
Sorry about the Yankees hitting you all the time, the Rays.