Carlos Quentin has reason to think that his getting hit by a pitch was intentional. But Zack Greinke also has plenty of reason to prove it was not.
Either way, the benches emptied twice Thursday night for one of the biggest brawls in recent Major League Baseball history, with Greinke taking home a broken collarbone and Quentin finally relieving his aggression after getting plunked dozens of time.
Quentin was facing Greinke in the bottom of the sixth, with the Padres trailing 2-1. He had worked the count full when a Greinke pitch came in and popped him on his leading shoulder.
Quentin has been hit 109 times in his career, twice by Greinke. That was enough to convince him that the pitch was no accident, no matter how improbable it is that Greinke would go after him in that situation.
Quentin charged the mound, and Greinke met him with some expletives and a lowered shoulder. It soon devolved into a scrum, with Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp — who had to get away from a tight pitch of his own earlier in the game — in the middle of most of the action.
Check out the clip below to see how it went down, including Vin Scully‘s interpretation of the events (“fertilizer,” anyone?) and the original pitch that had Kemp upset. Josh Beckett, who isn’t exactly known as a peacemaker, can also be seen smoothing some feathers after the benches clear for a second time.
