The benches cleared during Monday afternoon’s White Sox-Tigers tilt at Comerica Park, and Chicago slugger José Abreu had to be held back by his teammates.
Abreu was hit by a pitch from Tigers reliever Alex Lange and the White Sox bench took issue with it, resulting in bench coach Miguel Cairo’s ejection. Abreu then tried to take second on a wild pitch and was thrown out, but he exchanged words with Detroit shortstop Niko Goodrum after sliding into the base. That was when both benches came rushing onto the field, and Abreu had to be dragged away from the scrum.
Last week following his one-game suspension after an incident during a series with the Angels, White Sox manager Tony La Russa was outspoken about his stars, including Abreu, getting hit often.
“Our guys, three guys get hit, one guy gets hit in the head, Abreu gets hit for the 19th time, and nobody pays attention to that,” he said. “There’s an unfairness there that upsets me.”