Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Bryce Harper was ejected after a mass brawl during their defeat to the Colorado Rockies in Major League Baseball.
The Phillies were beaten 4-0 by the Rockies on Sunday, with the incident occurring at the top of the seventh inning. Harper ran towards the Rockies dugout which led to a mass altercation between the benches and bullpens from both teams. Rockies relief pitcher Jake Bird managed to get Bryson Scott to pop a flyball up which was caught by Jurickson Profar, ending the Phillies innings at the top of the seventh. Soon after Profar made the catch, the altercation began between players and staff from both teams.
After the catch, Bird could be seen taunting the Phillies bench and clapped his hand against his glove. This led to Harper taking issue with Bird’s actions, and was needed to be held back by some of his team-mates as well as Rockies catcher Elias Diaz.
After the game, Harper explained why he reacted the way he did to Bird’s actions. The Phillies star says that he was grateful for his team-mates supporting him during the incident.
"I get emotional," Harper told ESPN . "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." Harper added: "After that point, I went out there just to go. J.T. [Realmuto] was right behind me. Taijuan [Walker], same thing.
“I appreciate my teammates for coming out with me and doing that. It was the heat of the moment. Once we got out there, [Bird] just flew into the dugout and went away. Nobody really saw him after he did what he did."
Bird, who joined Harper in being ejected, later admitted that his taunting was not directed at anyone in particular on the Phillies bench. The Rockies reliever even said that he looks up to Harper as a player, despite what happened on Sunday.
"I get a little emotional on the mound sometimes," said Bird. "It's a good team. It was a big moment. I got a little emotional out there. They took exception to it." Bird added of Harper: "He's a great player. He plays with emotion. I love that he plays with emotion. He's a player I look up to."
The Phillies remain in second place in the NL East despite the defeat, and begin a two-game series against the San Francisco Giants Monday night. The Rockies are still bottom of the NL West and will soon begin a three-game series against the Cincinnati Reds.
