This is the Wildest Baseball Brawl We’ve Seen in a Long Time

Tempers ran hot during Saturday night’s Albuquerque Isotopes-Reno Aces game. Those tempers resulted in this melee.

[milbvideo id=”34849937″ width=”600″ height=”336″ /]

All told, 10 players and managers were ejected. A small price to pay for turning a minor league baseball game into a scene from the Coliseum.

Isotopes third baseman Erisbel Arruebarrena, who homered in Friday’s series opener and followed it with a lengthy trot around the bases, took exception to a pitch close to his body in his first trip to the plate on Saturday. After striking out against Aces starter Mike Bolsinger, Arruebarrena shoved Reno catcher Blake Lalli, sparking both benches to empty.

“It was just one of those unfortunate incidents that happen in baseball sometimes,” Reno manager Phil Nevin said. “It looked like it was going to be one of those normal things where you come out and guys just stand around a little bit, but whenever you have somebody come fly into the pile and throw punches, things happen. It just escalated from there.”

The situation quickly spiraled into a melee behind home plate, with punches being thrown by both sides and several players being pushed into the netting, the only thing separating them from the first row of seats at Aces Ballpark.

Alright, not the best example of sportsmanship, but isn’t this the best possible thing to have happen when attending a minor league baseball game? Hell, it would be a savvy move for a team’s PR team to market their guys as a bunch of brawlers. That’s way more interesting than the occasional novelty jersey.

[H/T: MiLb]