Monday night in Toronto, the Yankees and Blue Jays are wrapping up their season series with the fourth game of a four-game series. The Blue Jays are 12-6 against their division rivals from New York this year, and they've won the first three games of this weekend's series as well.
Things got a little heated Monday night between the two AL East rivals. It started with a first inning hit-by-pitch; Luis Severino ran a fastball inside and plunked Josh Donaldson in the elbow guard. Severino, who has struggled with his location all year, walked two batters later in the inning as well.
Blue Jays lefty J.A. Happ responded in the next half inning by hitting Chase Headley in the leg. He threw his first pitch behind Headley, then hit him with the second pitch. It was pretty obvious what was going on, so home plate umpire Todd Tichenor warned both teams. Benches cleared briefly after that.
It didn't end there. In the next half inning, the bottom of the second, Severino threw at Justin Smoak. Like Happ with Headley, Severino's first pitch was behind Smoak's legs, and the second pitch hit him. Benches cleared and all hell broke loose after that. Here's the brawl:
It didn't look like any punches were thrown, but that is definitely more intense than most benches clearing brawls, which usually involve a lot of standing around. Severino gestured to Smoak to "bring it on" after he hit him too. CC Sabathia and Russell Martin were right in the middle of things.
When it was all said and done, four people were ejected, all Yankees: Severino, manager Joe Girardi, bench coach Rob Thomson, and pitching coach Larry Rothschild. Girardi was actually ejected after benches cleared the first time, after Happ hit Headley. No one with the Blue Jays was ejected.
Thus far Monday's game has continued without incident. That said, these two teams won't play each other again this season, so there's a chance for more fireworks before it's all said and done.
