Drama in Cincinnati: A Full Breakdown of Reds-Giants Benches Clearing Incident

In the seventh inning of the second game of the series, Giants pitcher JT Brubaker toed the mound against Reds outfielder Spencer Steer. Brubaker began his wind-up as Steer was still getting ready, so the Reds outfielder was granted a late time call from the umpire. Brubaker threw his hands up and walked down the mound, seeming to yell at the umpire and point at Steer.

On the next pitch, a side camera caught Steer appearing to say "F**k you, throw the f**king ball" as Brubaker took the pitch clock down to one second on the pitch. Steer singled into left field on this pitch, and the side camera angle went viral.

Landon Roupp Vs. Spencer Steer

The next day, Giants starting pitcher Landen Roupp drilled Steer with a first-pitch fastball. Steer glanced out at the mound a few times but didn't cause much of a scene. The Reds had seemingly expected him to get plunked, as reported by Jim Day, so there wasn't much reaction from the Cincinnati dugout.

Roupp claimed it was an accident, but everybody in the ballpark seemed to understand the circumstances. Since no warnings were issued before the game, Roupp wasn't ejected. It's important to note that no warnings were issued after this hit by pitch either.

"Willy Adames better get every bit of equipment that he can find because he is going to get a 98 MPH heater somewhere on his body. The Giants just started a war in this ball game," Reds radio broadcaster Jeff Brantley said after Steer was drilled.

And Brantley was on the money with his comments.

Connor Phillips Vs. Willy Adames

While the response didn't come immediately, as the Reds and Giants were deadlocked in a 0-0 game for most of the day, Adames stepped to the plate in the eighth inning with two outs and the Giants leading 3-0. Reds pitcher Connor Phillips threw the first fastball of the at-bat to the backstop, missing Adames by inches. On the next pitch, Adames was plunked.

The Giants' infielder stared out at the mound until the umpire got between them. Once the umpire was in his way, he took a few steps toward the mound before being ushered to first base. Adames smiled at the Reds dugout, and the umpire ejected Phillips from the game.

Erik Miller Vs. Sal Stewart

In the ninth inning, Giants pitcher Erik Miller struck out Stewart to end the ball game. As Stewart went to walk back to the dugout, Miller yelled at him, appearing to say, "Come on! Sit the f**k down!" to Stewart. Stewart took exception to Miller charging at him and stood his ground, responding to the fiery Giants pitcher.

Both dugouts and bullpens emptied, though there weren't any punches thrown or any pushing and shoving aside from getting Stewart and Miller ushered back to the dugout.

Takeaways From the Incident

I have a few strong opinions on the entire situation.

First of all, it seemed weird that Phillips was ejected and Roupp wasn't. While Phillips threw a pitch by Adames before hitting him, if he was going to be ejected, he should have gotten a warning after the first pitch. Both hit-by-pitches seemed intentional. Neither was given a warning beforehand. One was ejected, and the other wasn't. There needs to be some sort of consistency if both pitches are clearly deemed as intentional, both should receive the same punishment.

Baseball also needs to move past the whole idea of throwing pitches at each other when they're mad. The pitcher never has to face the music. Roupp was allowed to throw at Steer, but he didn't face punishment of his own. Instead, Adames was the one who had to wear the response from the Reds.

The entire situation should never have started in the first place. Players often talk to themselves and cuss at themselves during games. Max Scherzer was notorious for doing it. If the side angle of Steer hadn't come out, the Giants likely never would have realized it happened.

The entire situation was weird. These two teams meet again in August in San Francisco.