How Pirates Addressed Benches-Clearing Incident With Nationals

A 6-1 win for the Pittsburgh Pirates over the Washington Nationals on Wednesday night at PNC Park came with a side of fireworks.

The benches cleared in the bottom of the seventh inning when a pitch from Nationals reliever Jorge Lopez nearly hit Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen in the head. McCutchen, at first, calmly walked out of the batter’s box after hitting the dirt to get out of the way of the offering.

But when the umpire crew conferenced to decide on any discipline for Lopez, that’s when emotions boiled over. Lopez and McCutchen exchanged words, prompting players to spill out onto the field. Oneil Cruz held back McCutchen and Tommy Pham.

Lopez was ejected and the incident clearly sparked the Pirates as Cruz smacked a grand slam after McCutchen walked.

“Our whole club, as you can see, got kind of fired up,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton told reporters, per SportsNet Pittsburgh. “They took a little bit of offense to what happened and because of it, it ended up sparking a big inning.”

Shelton added: “It was way too close to his head. I mean, Bryan (Reynolds) had got hit two pitches before and then we go above (McCutchen’s) head. Not a fan of that and I think the umpires did a really good job of controlling it, knowing the situation. If this stems from something that happened (Tuesday) — Mitch (Keller) did not try to hit Paul DeJong in the face in a 1-0 game. It was totally accidental. So, if this was retribution for that then that’s just lack of awareness.”

McCutchen didn’t think Lopez threw at him on purpose but understood why the situation brought out that type of response from both teams.

“I don’t think it matters if it was or if it wasn’t. Just the fact and the nature of the situation,” McCutchen told reporters, per SportsNet Pittsburgh. “I can’t speak for the other person. So yeah, just the nature of the situation. Take it as is. Even if it wasn’t on purpose, which I don’t really think it was. I think it was just the height of the moment got to him maybe and one got away from him, similar to Mitch. But praise God for quick reflexes.”