Bad blood between San Francisco Giants pitcher Hunter Strickland and Washington Nationals star Bryce Harper spilled over on Monday, May 29, when Harper charged the mound after he was beamed by a 98-mph Strickland fastball. The result was an all-out brawl, as teammates from both benches cleared onto the field, with several getting in on the action and trading blows.
The Giants were down 2-0 on a Ryan Zimmerman home run and a Daniel Murphy RBI double when Strickland was brought in to replace Matt Moore in the eighth inning. Fresh off of the bench and down by only a slim margin, he'd take full advantage of the fact that the bases were clear when the Nats' best hitter [Harper] stepped to the plate with two outs; as it isn't out of the ordinary for a pitcher to simply give up 1st base rather than risk making a mistake to the batter. But rather than intentionally walk Harper, Strickland fired his first pitch square on the hip of Harper, who'd immediately point his bat at the pitcher, then flick it off to the side, before dashing straight at his adversary.
The altercation was ugly from the very start, with Harper attempting to chuck his helmet at Strickland before they came toe to toe to square up. Strickland would land a stiff right hand to the face and then take a right hand to the face, in kind. Within moments Harper and Strickland would be torn apart from one another, but fighting ensued from other players on the field, with all hell breaking loose after Michael Morse and Jeff Samardzija headed right into one another while coming to their respective man's aid.
Harper and Strickland, who it turns out might have had a score to settle dating back to a 2014 NL Division Series playoff game in which Harper stared Strickland down after hitting two homers off of him; were both ejected from the game. Harper's replacement runner Brian Goodwin would come around to score on a second Daniel Murphy RBI, to bring the score to its final margin of 3-0 in Washington's favor.
Source: youtube.com
