BOSTON (Reuters) - Boston slugger David Ortiz charged the mound to confront Baltimore pitcher Kevin Gregg on Friday, setting off a bench-clearing brawl that saw both players ejected late in the game between the AL East rivals.
Emotions boiled over in the eighth innings of Boston's 10-3 victory when Ortiz became enraged after taking two inside pitches from Gregg, as players from both teams moved onto the field before retreating back to the dugout.
However, following Ortiz's pop out, he and Gregg exchanged words that sent the man known affectionately throughout baseball as 'Big Papi' dashing toward the pitcher.
Both players threw several wild punches that failed to connect while each team pushed and shoved during a skirmish that took several minutes to resolve.
Boston (53-35) catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia was also ejected along with Baltimore (36-50) reliever Jim Johnson.
Ortiz had started the game on a positive note, bombing his 19th home run of the season in the first inning.
(Writing by Jahmal Corner in Los Angeles; Editing by John O'Brien)
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