In sports, tempers flare. It happens.
Usually the anger is directed at opponents, but Detroit Tigers teammates James McCann and Jose Iglesias went at each other in the dugout Friday night at Comerica Park.
The two were jawing while the Boston Red Sox took the field in the bottom of the sixth inning, and then Iglesias threw a shove before hurling his glove at McCann.
Brian J. Manzullo of the Detroit Free Press believes the scrap, which was broken up by teammates, was over Iglesias’ casual approach to a grounder up the middle in the top half of the inning off the bat of Boston’s Rusney Castillo:
The Tigers came into the night 10.5 games back of the Kansas City Royals in the AL Central, so frustration might be a factor here, too.
Update: August 8
According to Chris McCosky of the Detroit News, Manzullo was right about the source of the fight.
Based on McCosky’s latest column, Iglesias’ blood is still boiling a day later, too:
Iglesias fanned those dying embers back into flames before the game Saturday. He showed no remorse or regret for his part in the dust-up and worse, he said he’d do the same thing over again.
“I did what I was supposed to do,” he said. “It’s fine. I’m OK with it.”
Would he have rather done it in private, away from the cameras and fans?
“I don’t mind the cameras, either,” he said. “I think I just go by my instinct and my instincts told me to do that. And I am OK with it.”
McCann had called Iglesias out in the dugout in the sixth inning. McCann was apparently upset that Iglesias didn’t give full effort on a ground ball up the middle. Television replays showed Iglesias was flat-footed when the ball was hit and he seemed to give up on the ball quickly.
[MLB, Twitter]
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