The Cuban was still in the game when reports emerged that he had been traded to the Cleveland Indians as part of a three-team deal that saw Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer head to Cincinnati.
Cincinnati’s pitcher Jared Hughes hit Starling Marte with his first pitch in the ninth inning, as tensions between the National League rivals spilled over again, just three months after the Reds and Pirates were involved in an all-in fracas.
Both benches were warned after Hughes’ errant pitch, with the pitcher and Reds bench coach Freddie Benavides ejected. Reds reliever Amir Garrett then exchanged words with Pirates starter Trevor Williams, who was in the dugout at the time.
Garrett then ran towards the dugout, where he began unleashing a series of haymakers, some of which found their intended target.
Reds manager David Bell, who had previously been ejected, rushed back onto the field and sought out his Pirates counterpart Clint Hurdle. Hurdle got knocked to the ground during the fracas, before being rescued by Pirates hitting coach Rick Edstein.
“It’s a shame that this is allowed and that they’re able to get away with it,” Bell was quoted as saying by The Associated Press. “They celebrate it, they support it, they clearly allow it. I don’t know if they teach it, but they allow it. It’s dangerous.”
The brawl then appeared to be subsiding, before Puig did his best to successfully reignite it, charging towards Pirates pitcher Trevor Williams and then attempting to put the Pirates bench coach in a headlock.
The outfielder was the fifth Reds player to be ejected, along with Hughes, Benavides, Garrett and Bell, while three Pirates were given their marching orders—pitchers Kyle Crick and Chris Archer and catcher Francisco Cervelli.
“That’s crazy,” Puig told ESPN when asked to summarize his final inning in a Cincinnati Reds jersey after the game. The 28-year-old, who was acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers during the offseason, has now been ejected three times this season, the most in the MLB.
The Reds lost 11-4, but Puig, who was also at the center of the brawl in April, was given a standing ovation as he walked off the field one last time at Great American Ball Park. The three-game series resumes on Wednesday night in Cincinnati.
