When a team’s back is against the wall, things can get a little tricky as emotions run high and heads aren’t always cooler.
Fortunately for the Yankees in their ALDS win Thursday night in Kansas City, when that moment of Royals desperation arrived and the benches and bullpens emptied onto the field for a meeting of the minds, the tension never let up.
With the Yanks ahead 3-0 and Gerrit Kool seemingly in cruise control in the bottom of the sixth inning, Michael Garcia scored the home team’s third goal of the evening to open the frame. The unflappable Yanks ace got Michael Massey to ground out to first Jon Berti – making his second career start at the position – deftly snared the bouncer, touched the bag and shot to Anthony Volpe at second base.
After the ball reached the Yankee shortstop for a tag with Garcia, running downfield but still a handful of yards from the bag, interpretations of events begin to differ.
“Volpe had the ball, blocked the bag, Maikel probably didn’t feel like doing that and then it got a bit chippy,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said after the game.
“I don’t know,” Yanks manager Aaron Boone said. “I still don’t even know who… I honestly have no idea.”
What happened: Garcia’s first slide with the feet was close to the bag, Volpe’s tag with his glove hand and right hand extended made contact with the runner’s upper body – the shortstop’s right elbow was connected to the slider’s chin – and the spur was lifted for a 1-6 double play.
“If there was any upset about the slide or whatever,” said the victorious Boone. “We can just go back and show a little bit Hal McRae – Willie Randolph and we will all laugh at ourselves.”
After both players stood up, Volpe tapped Garcia on the chest with his glove. Garcia looked at Volpe, but didn’t seem to say anything. And as the Royals man walked back to the dugout, Volpe gave him a few more taps on the back with his right hand.
Garcia then turned to the Yankees third baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. – a new bad guy in Kansas City – who had walked into the base and must have given his two cents on the game. A conversation ensued that quickly caught the attention of the second base umpire Roberto Ortizwho extended his left hand toward Chisholm and had his right hand around Garcia’s midriff.
“I just felt like he was trying to injure Volpe because he was a sore loser,” Chisholm said after the match, via Bryan Hoch. “He talked a lot on Instagram and Twitter and stuff. I do the same thing, but I’m not going to try to hurt someone when he wins a match.
“And I didn’t like that, so I told him we don’t do that on this side and I’ll always stand up for my boys.”
As Volpe and the Yankees infield waved Garcia back to the dugout and second baseman from first base Gleyber TorresAs he put his arm around the Royals third baseman and gently escorted him off the field, other Yankees fielders strolled toward the fray. And then the benches were emptied and the bullpens cleared out.
There was no incident as both teams came together between first and second place, with the majority of players trying to calm things down.
Chisholm seemed the most excited of everyone except assistant pitching coach Desi Druschel the third baseman walked away from the sea of humanity, which soon disappeared.
Of course, Kansas City managed to follow up the twin murders with back-to-back hits, the second of which Vinnie Pasquantino‘s RBI doubled to the left-center gap that scored their only run of the game.
But in the end, the skirmish was a lot like the Royals’ offense in Game 4: punchless.
