Well, you don’t see this every day: One of MLB’s brightest stars finding himself in the middle of a brawl.
But that was the case for Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Bryce Harper during Sunday afternoon’s road game against the Colorado Rockies. Oddly enough, the brawl did not stem from the usual circumstance of a pitcher hitting a batter.
Bryson Scott of the Phillies flew out to left field to end the top half of the seventh, and the television broadcast was getting ready to cut to commercial. That had to be on pause after Harper ignited a brawl between the two clubs:
Harper was ejected from the game, as the host Rockies held on for a 4-0 win to avoid a sweep in the three-game series. Harper went 0-for-3 at the plate, striking out twice in a sluggish offensive outing by the Phillies.
Per Todd Zolecki of MLB.com, Harper wasn’t happy when Rockies pitcher Jake Bird taunted the Philadelphia dugout. Harper insisted that he was standing up for his teammates:
“I get emotional. I understand getting fired up for an inning and stuff like that. But once you make it about a team or make it about yourself and the other team, that’s when I’ve kind of got a problem with it.
You guys saw my reaction. I wasn’t very happy. He kind of just did what he did and after that he kind of flew away and just like went into the dugout.”
Click on ‘Follow Us’ and get notified of the most viral MLB stories via Google! Follow Us
The loss to Colorado dropped the defending NL champion Phillies to 20-20 on the season. Through his first 10 games of the season, Harper is batting .333 with two home runs and five RBI. The two-time NL MVP and seven-time All-Star missed the first month of the season recovering from offseason Tommy John surgery.
The Phillies continue their road trip out west with a three-game slate against the San Francisco Giants that begins Monday.
