Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Rhys Hoskins is finding himself at odds with the New York Mets. Mets pitcher Yohan Ramirez threw at Hoskins after he hit a home run for the Brewers on Saturday. Hoskins got his first homer as a Brewer in an afternoon game against the Mets in Queens.
Rhys Hoskins connects for his 1st @Brewers home run! pic.twitter.com/zKsGo6xOQ8
— MLB (@MLB) March 30, 2024
Hoskins' smash occurred in the third inning of a game in the Big Apple. It is also coming on the heels of some drama. Friday's Opening Day game between the two teams ended up in a benches clearing incident, due to something Hoskins did. His slide late in the game into second base on Jeff McNeil caused some animosity between the teams. Hoskins made physical contact with McNeil, in a play that the Mets took exception to. The incident forced the players to leave their dugouts. Some heated words were exchanged between players from the two teams, but no punches were thrown.
“It’s a late slide. We didn’t like it, Jeff didn’t like it but it’s legal,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said after the game, per SNY. “Apparently, there’s some history between them two and that’s what got Jeff heated there.”
McNeil spoke with reporters following the game, and also discussed the incident. He mirrored his manager's displeasure to the slide. McNeil and Hoskins played against each other in the same division, when Hoskins was with his last team the Philadelphia Phillies.
“We’ve had a little bit of a past so I knew there was a chance he’d be coming in like that,” McNeil added. “I didn’t like his slide. I wasn’t trying to turn the double play at all, I was just trying to catch the ball, there was no need to break it up. I didn’t like it.”
The incident took on new legs after the slide, as Hoskins was nearly hit by a pitch in Saturday's game. The emotions between these two teams seem to be at a boiling point. Ramirez was ejected following the wild pitch at Hoskins.
Hoskins' new team
One has to wonder if Hoskins got charged up by Friday's incident and how the Mets responded. It appears so, as the first baseman hit a hard dinger over the fence the very next day. Hoskins is hitting very well at the time of writing on Saturday, bringing in four runs for the Brewers. The Mets also seem to be wanting to take their revenge on him, as Ramirez hurled a pitch near Hoskins' face.
The first baseman joined Milwaukee this offseason after spending six years with the Phillies. Hoskins has a career .242 batting average, with nearly 150 home runs now in his career. He has also batted in more than 400 runs in his six-plus seasons in Major League Baseball.
Hoskins was brought in to help the Brewers' offense. So far, the investment seems to be paying off handsomely. The Brewers are 1-0 on the young season. The team finished last year with a 92-70 record. The team won the National League Central, before bowing out in the NL playoffs to the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Mets finished the 2023 season with a 75-87 record.
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