San Francisco Giants relief pitcher Zack Littell threw a fit when he was pulled from Monday night’s game against the Atlanta Braves, and he took it out on manager Gabe Kapler.
Littell entered to pitch the top of the eighth with the Giants leading the Braves 3-0. Littell allowed a double, walk, single and single to make it a 3-2 game before he finally got Austin Riley to ground into a double play.
Kapler came out after the double play to remove Littell, who had words for his manager.
After lefty Scott Alexander entered the game, Kapler went to the dugout and called Littell into the clubhouse for a talk.
Alexander got Matt Olson to fly out to end the eighth. He also shut the Braves down in the ninth to close out a 3-2 win.
After the game, Kapler told reporters what happened with Littell.
“I think Zack wanted to stay in that game obviously,” Kapler said. “He’s a competitor and wanted to finish that inning. I think it was just his wanting me to know that he wanted to finish that inning. There’s obviously a way to do that. Zack knows that. We discussed it. He knows that when I come out to get the ball, he just needs to put the ball in my hand and we’ll talk about anything later. We open the door for conversations around when players enter and exit games. And I’m happy to discuss those things with players. But there’s a way to do that. I think Zack understands that.”
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