Chaos broke out late in the Baltimore Orioles 4-1 loss at the hands of the New York Yankees on Friday night when Clay Holmes hit Heston Kjerstad in the head with a pitch in the bottom of the ninth inning. Benches for both teams quickly cleared, and when the dust settled, Orioles manager Brandon Hyde found himself ejected from the game.
After Holmes hit Kjerstad, a mosh pit quickly formed near home plate, with Hyde angrily charging towards the Yankees bench before he was quickly wrapped up. After the game, Hyde explained what was going through his mind as he nearly incited a riot between the two teams in the first game of their three-game series.
Via Jacob Calvin Meyer:
“Brandon Hyde on what happened in the 9th that led to the benches clearing: ‘It’s an emotional time at that time. I got my guy who just got hit right in the ear. I’m upset & then I see their dugout. They’re waving at me & yelling at me, so I just didn’t appreciate it at the time.'”
Brandon Hyde defended his players after benches cleared
Getting hit in the head with a pitch is one of one of the scariest plays in the game of baseball, so the Orioles were understandably not too happy when Holmes beaned Kjerstad late in this game. It wasn't intentional, but whenever something like this happens, especially in a heated rivalry game, tensions boil over.
That's precisely what happened with Hyde here. He didn't like the way the Yankees responded to the incident, and he made a beeline for their dugout as he looked to retaliate. He ended up getting ejected as a result, but he made a statement by standing up for his players and his team after this incident.
These sorts of things happen over the course of a 162-game season, and you can bet there will be quite a bit of tension hovering over the final two games of this series. Hyde will be back in the dugout when the two teams take the field on Saturday for the second contest of the series, but he's probably going to be looking to avoid getting in trouble after last night's ruckus between the two sides.
The initial hope is that Kjerstad is OK after taking a baseball to the face, but aside from that, it seems like everyone is intent on moving past this incident and focusing on the next game. But if something similar ends up taking place between these two rivals over the next game or two, you can bet Hyde is going to be the first guy stepping up to defend his players and team against the Yankees.
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