I’m used to seeing these kinds of fights at Bridgestone Arena when the Nashville Predators are playing.
But it’s not often you see an all-out brawl at First Horizon Park during a Nashville Sounds minor league baseball game.
That’s what happened tonight though as the Sounds, who are the AAA-affiliate for the Milwaukee Brewers, were facing off against the AAA-affiliate for the Cleveland Guardians, the Columbus Clippers.
During the top of the third inning, outfielder George Valera was at bat for Columbus, when words were exchanged between Valera and Sounds catcher Alex Jackson.
The umpire tried to separate the two, moving the altercation away from the plate and towards the home dugout, but Valera was heated, pushing the ump out of the way to take a swing at Jackson.
Yeah, not smart, not only pushing an umpire is never going to end well, but also because Jackson’s still in full catcher’s gear and just ate the punch to the stomach like it was nothing.
From there both dugouts emptied and the chaos ensued as coaches and players tried to regain control of the situation. Sounds closer Abner Uribe came off the bench and had to be pulled out of the scrum as he was swinging at everybody within arms’ reach. Just complete madness.
Eventually the coaches and umpires were able to regain control of the situation, with Valera, Jackson and Uribe all earning themselves ejections for the evening before the game was able to continue.
Columbus eventually won the game 6-2 over the Sounds, but I have a feeling Valera might earn himself more than an ejection after pushing an umpire – not to mention the sore hand he’s going to have from punching a catcher’s chest plate.
