As Bill wrote last night, Braves reliever Shane Carle gave up a big home run to Bryce Harper in the seventh inning of last night’s game and then, two pitches later, was ejected after hitting first baseman Rhys Hoskins with a pitch.
While it’s debatable whether or not Carle was trying to hit Hoskins, that pitch, coming when it did and going where it did is often going to lead to an ejection. You don’t mess around near someone’s head and, given that it came after a homer, a pitcher is not gonna get the benefit of the doubt, even if the ball merely got away from him.
We don’t know if that’s Carle’s story, as he left the ballpark last night before reporters could talk to him. His manager and the situation -- an 0-1 count -- suggested it was an accident, but it was understandable for the umps to err on the side of an ejection there. Especially given that the Braves were pitching Hoskins high-and-tight all weekend.
For his part, Phillies manager Gabe Kapler was not having it:
If you can’t watch that video for some reason, Kapler said, “It really pisses me off when balls go underneath Rhys Hoskins’ chin. It really bugs me. He’s one of our leaders. He is, in many ways, the heartbeat of our club. It really bothers me when it happens.”
Hoskins, who broke his jaw on a foul ball last year, was, obviously, none too pleased himself, saying “I hit the ground three times in three days and that’s never fun, especially after the episode last year.” He suggested that if the Braves don’t like it when someone hits a home run that they not give up home runs. It’s a pretty on-point suggestion.
Oh well. I’d say that this could be the beginning of a spicy year-long series between these two sides, but I suppose the Braves have to actually beat the Phillies once for there to be some back and forth to it all. In the meantime it’s just a thing that happened on an otherwise great weekend for the Phillies and an otherwise bad weekend for Atlanta.