A couple of pitchers named “Jose” were at the center of a heated situation Wednesday night at Turner Field.
The Braves and Marlins cleared the benches when Atlanta reliever Jose Ramirez threw a pitch over the head of Miami ace Jose Fernandez. Fernandez had been squaring around to bunt in the seventh inning when he received the chin music from Ramirez.
No punches were thrown once everyone ran onto the field, but it was a rather tense game, all things considered. Braves starter Julio Teheran almost hit Fernandez in the fifth inning and plunked Martin Prado in the sixth, after which Fernandez drilled Nick Markakis.
Perhaps that sequence of events sparked Ramirez’s purpose pitch in the seventh, although it’s also worth noting that Fernandez ruffled the Braves’ feathers in 2013 when he admired his first career home run, leading to a bench-clearing incident between the National League East rivals.
Ramirez was ejected for his role in Wednesday’s debacle.
