© Gary A. Vasquez | 2018 Aug 14
Things got a little testy in the seventh inning of Tuesday night’s Giants-Dodgers game.
As he has all series, Yasiel Puig showed visible displeasure after fouling off a Tony Watson fastball right down the middle. Giants’ catcher Nick Hundley apparently let Puig know he wasn’t a fan of his antics, and the two were soon squaring off after Puig pushed Hundley, causing both benches to clear. When the dust finally settled, both Puig and Hundley were ejected.
Puig your enemy ? pic.twitter.com/K6dq4oxTbo
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) August 15, 2018
Giants broadcaster Mike Krukow joined Murph & Mac to talk about the skirmish on Wedensday morning, and said that it was clear Puig was the aggressor, and that he’s the only player who should be suspended.
“The Giants for two nights now they’re watching Puig on every called strike,” Krukow said. “Shakes his head, bad body language. Two nights ago against Bumgarner, he pops up a pitch he thought he should’ve done something with, he throws the bat up slaps it to the ground, well guess what? That wears on you when you’re watching it, especially this time of year. You haven’t got a lot of patience for that, they don’t have a lot of patience for him anyway. I mean that’s just what he does. In the past you’re saying ‘Aw, yeah well he’s young,’ but guess what? You get tired of it.
“So last night, Tony Watson throws a slider that was up, and (Puig) fouls it straight back and he probably should’ve done something more with it. He didn’t, and then he says something and he does the bat thing again. This is already after he’s done the shoulder shrug on a called strike on the first pitch. And Hundley just said ‘We’re getting tired of this,’ or words to that effect. He didn’t cuss. He doesn’t, or very often, but anyway all of the sudden here comes Puig. He gets in his face and then it’s the same old thing. ‘You can’t tell me that in my house.’ ‘Oh really, what are you going to do about it?’ Well then he comes after him and that is the stupidest thing that you could possibly do if you’re any player, not just Puig.
“This is the time of year your team has 42 games left. You can’t afford to get suspended, you can’t even afford to give the league office a chance to even think about you getting suspended, because now you’re out however many games, you’re hurting your team.
“I don’t think it was a deliberate bait, but it wound up being that. Because when you saw Hundley and the whole thing goes down and Puig is slapping at him, it became obvious that Puig was the aggressor and he’s the guy who’s going to get suspended in all likelihood. I would doubt that Hundley is going to be suspended because he didn’t throw a punch.”
Listen to the full interview below. To hear Krukow on the fight, start from 2:00.