White Sox's Tim Anderson, Guardians' Jos Ramrez Trade Punches In Wild Brawl

CLEVELAND (AP) Tim Anderson of the Chicago White Sox and Jos Ramrez of the Cleveland Guardians exchanged punches at second base Saturday night, triggering a long, bench-clearing melee in the sixth inning that led to six ejections.

Ramrez connected with a wild right hand to the face of Anderson, dazing the shortstop and knocking him to the dirt. Both benches and bullpens poured onto the field, leading to some chaotic moments in one of the nastiest fights in the majors in recent years.

Its not funny, but boys will be boys, said Guardians manager Terry Francona, who was ejected following the fracas.

Jose Ramirez and Tim Anderson broke out into a fist fight and madness struck in Cleveland pic.twitter.com/XhdUEsXrD8

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Jose Ramirez and Tim Anderson broke out into a fist fight and madness struck in Cleveland pic.twitter.com/XhdUEsXrD8
Talkin Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) August 6, 2023

Francona wasnt exactly sure what prompted the Anderson-Ramrez fight, but said that before the brawl, Anderson had been told by one of the umpires to stop jawing at Guardians rookie Gabriel Arias.

Ramrez and Anderson likely face suspensions, and perhaps other participants as well. The teams play their series finale Sunday afternoon.

Ramrez said he felt Anderson was being disrespectful. On Friday night, Anderson pushed Guardians rookie Brayan Rocchio off the bag at second following a slide, leading to a call that was controversially reversed by the umpires.

He said he wanted to fight and I had to defend myself, Ramrez said through a translator.

Francona, third-base coach Mike Sarbaugh and closer Emmanuel Clase were tossed along with Chicago manager Pedro Grifol. There were multiple flare-ups on the infield and in foul territory. It took 15 minutes before order was restored.

The altercation began when Ramrez slid headfirst into second with an RBI double and Anderson stood over him, straddling the All-Star third baseman. When Ramrez got up, he pointed his finger in Andersons face and yelled, prompting them to square off.

Anderson dropped his glove and threw the first punch before Ramrez countered with his shot to the Chicago stars jaw.

Anderson had to be forcibly taken into the dugout by members of the coaching staff, but returned to the field several minutes later from the clubhouse. Chicago teammate Andrew Vaughn physically carried Anderson down the steps following the latter outburst.

Sarbaugh and Clase were the primary figures in subsequent escalations during the delay.

The White Sox held a 5-1 lead when the game was delayed.

After Anderson went down, he popped up incensed and tried to get at Ramrez but couldnt break free from several teammates trying to calm him down.

Tempers temporarily calmed before Francona and Grifol had words, leading to pushing and shoving by players and coaches on both teams as the crowd roared.

I think he was more yelling at me and I yelled back, Francona said.

Grifol didnt want to comment directly about the ugly incident.

There are a lot of people upset, he said. Thank God I havent heard of any news out of the trainers room. Im not going to talk about it. Im going to let MLB figure this out. Theyve got some work to do.

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AP Sports Writer Tom Withers contributed to this report.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports