UPDATED 4/9/19 12:55 p.m. ET: Yasiel Puig has received a two-game suspension along with an undisclosed fine for his involvement in the brawl that took place Sunday. His manager, David Bell, was hit with a one-game suspension, while Pirates pitcher Chris Archer received a five-game suspension.
See below for original story published on 4/7/19.
Few sports outside of hockey are as built for brawling as baseball. For one, the speed of the game allows barrel-shaped dudes to excel at the highest level. Also, the MLB continues to employ Yasiel Puig. The Cincinnati Reds right fielder and pitbull did his best to fight the entire Pittsburgh Pirates organization after pitcher Chris Archer threw at Puig's teammate, Derek Dietrich.
Archer's dangerous decision came after Dietrich stared at a home run he hit early in the game. That was enough for Archer to justify throwing at him in Dietrich's next at-bat. Reds manager David Bell rightfully ran out to bark at the umpires about the potentially harmful pitch and when it became clear that the situation wasn't going to be resolved by shouting, the benches cleared.
Puig charged out and had to be held back by his teammates from going after Archer. Cooler heads prevailed at first, with the teams angrily milling about after a few initial scraps. Puig broke away from his teammates and attempted to take on the whole Pirates team, tossing his own teammates out of the way to square up against all of the Pirates at home plate. During the scrum, Puig got Pirates coach Tom Prince and put him in a headlock. It's hard to see a situation where that doesn't lead to further discipline for Puig.
Puig was ejected along with Bell and relief pitcher Amir Garrett. Archer was allowed to stay in the game but two Pirates relievers —Keone Kela and Felipe Vazquez— were given the boot.
