Brawl Breaks Out After Cincinnati Reds Player Charges at Pittsburgh Pirates Dugout During Game

Helen Murphy

A fight broke out at a Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates game on Tuesday night after Reds pitcher Amir Garrett charged towards the Pirates’ dugout.

According to MLB.com, tensions had been brewing between the teams for years, but recently came to a head during an April game when Reds player Derek Dietrich paused to admire his own home run against the Pirates.

The April incident didn’t appear to sit well with Pirates pitcher Keone Kela, who threw an inside pitch at Dietrich during Tuesday’s game. Kela also appeared to say something to Dietrich as he walked back to the dugout after being struck out, MLB.com reported.

“I just wanted to show them that we didn’t agree with the way things went down, and you have to pitch in,” Kela said, according to ESPN. “I was just doing my part.”

After the pitch, things continued to escalate between the two teams throughout Tuesday’s game. During the top of the ninth inning, according to Fox News, Garrett — who was on the mound talking to a Reds coach — walked towards the Pirates’ dugout.

In video footage of the brawl, Garrett, 27, appears to exchange words with the players in the dugout as he runs there. Once he arrives, the athlete seemingly tries to punch a Pirates player.

More Reds and Pirates team members join in, with the fight lasting for about five minutes.

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Andy Lyons/Getty
Andy Lyons/Getty

According to ESPN, eight players from both teams were ejected in total throughout the game — including Reds manager David Bell.

One of the players involved in the brawl — the Reds’ Yasiel Puig — had been traded to the Cleveland Indians just minutes before he was ejected from the game as a result of the fight, ESPN reported.

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“I don’t condone what I did. It’s not in the game for something like that to happen,” Garrett said after the game, according to MLB.com. “Sometimes, you let emotions get the best of you. I don’t condone that. I don’t like for kids to see that in the baseball environment. Baseball is fun.”

“The violence shouldn’t be in there,” he added. “At the end of the day, it about protecting your teammates, protecting yourself. Emotions got the best of me.”

The Reds lost the game to the Pirates, 11-4.