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Benches cleared, but a good start for Reds' Sampson

C. Trent Rosecrans
crosecrans@enquirer.com
Pittsburgh Pirates right fielder Gregory Polanco (25) is safe at home beating the tag from Cincinnati Reds catcher Tucker Barnhart (16) in the third inning.

The tension between the Reds and Pirates has been brewing for years, and it finally boiled over with a bench-clearing kerfuffle in the eighth inning of Sunday’s 3-0 Pirates victory at Great American Ball Park.

No punches were thrown, nobody was hurt, but voices were raised and shoves were exchanged during a 10-minute meeting between the teams, ultimately resulting in the ejection of three players – none of whom hit another player with a baseball or was hit by a baseball.

Reds manager Bryan Price described the delay as “more rugby than cage fighting.”

The catalyst was a pair of batters being hit – the Pirates' Andrew McCutchen by Pedro Villarreal in the top of the inning and Brandon Phillips by Pittsburgh’s Tony Watson. Neither pitcher was ejected, although Pittsburgh closer Mark Melancon was ejected in the bottom of the ninth when he hit the Reds’ Tucker Barnhart with a pitch that nobody – not Barnhart, not Price, not Melancon – thought was intentional.

But when the Reds and Pirates get together, it seems someone is always going to get hit and there’s a chance it could get personal.

Over the past three seasons, the two teams have played 52 games, and there have been a combined 62 players hit by pitches in those games. A total of 34 times it’s been a Reds player plunked, and 28 times it’s been a Pirate on the wrong end of a pitch.

Pittsburgh leads all of Major League Baseball with 55 hit batters and also leads the league by getting hit 60 times. Pittsburgh pitchers led the majors in hit batters each of the past two seasons as well, hitting 80 in 2014 and 70 in 2013.

“It’s just kind of been something in the air I think for a long time here,” Price said. “The one thing that’s a constant with these two teams is we both pitch inside. We pitch inside a lot, as do they. Probably over the last six years it’s one of the main reasons there’s a lot of success on the pitching staffs of these two organizations. What’s going to happen when you pitch inside is guys are going to get hit. I think the issue is now that every time somebody gets hit, it kind of opens up an old wound.”

That wound was opened on Saturday when Joe Blanton hit Marlon Byrd in the left shoulder, just missing his face. In 2011, Byrd suffered multiple facial fractures and temporarily lost sight in his left eye after being hit in the face as a member of the Cubs.

“Last night they threw at my head – and they missed,” Byrd said. “The line is whenever you go above somebody’s shoulder – that’s where it is, that’s the line.”

Villarreal hit Pirates center fielder and No. 22 McCutchen between the 2 and 2 on his back in the eighth inning before getting Jung Ho Kang to pop out to end the inning.

“I mean, I was trying to go in – the scouting report says sliders away and fastballs in,” Villarreal said. “It just slipped on me, and you saw the end.”

Said McCutchen: “I was a bit surprised that they would want to retaliate. You should do that early in the game and get it over with. To wait until the eighth inning and face – not being cocky – but the best player on the team and you hit the best player. I didn’t quite understand that. Unless Byrd’s the best player for them. I don’t know. Byrd’s a good player, and they want to protect their players. But if you want to protect him, just get it over with. Don’t wait until the eighth inning with two outs to do it.”

After getting pinch-hitter Jason Bourgeois to line out to start the inning, Watson then hit Phillips and tempers flared. After home plate umpire D.J. Reyburn got in front of him, Phillips took steps toward the mound, and the benches cleared.

“I just pound fastballs in, you guys have seen that for the last four years. Get away,” Watson said. “I don’t need to sit here and explain. It’s just one of those things.”

Both teams seemed to be content to push each other around, and twice it seemed to die down only to escalate again.

Byrd appeared to be confronting Blanton and other Pirates, while Pittsburgh first baseman Sean Rodriguez also was visibly yelling. Byrd, Rodriguez and Joey Votto, who was given the day off by Price, were ejected.

“The guys came out to make sure they protected their teammates,” Price said. “I’ve got no problem with them going out there, and they wanted to make sure they were out there in support of what happened. That’s what you expect. Guys take the field, players take the field, bullpens clear, and everyone’s out on the field and those guys, I think, just felt like it was their responsibility to be out there standing up for their teammates.”

The fracas overshadowed the start by Reds rookie Keyvius Sampson, who allowed just three hits and three runs over five innings in his first big-league start. Sampson walked one and struck out six on 79 pitches and 51 strikes.

On Saturday, Price said it would be a spot start for Sampson, who could certainly lobby for another start.

“He did good. He showed good stuff. He was around the plate, he showed a four-pitch mix around the plate, I thought he had great composure for a guy making his debut,” Price said. “I was very impressed with the way he threw the baseball. I look forward to seeing a lot more of Keyvius.”

The 24-year-old right-hander looked anything but intimidated or nervous in his first start, retiring the first seven Pirates he faced, four on strikeouts. He finished the first by striking out McCutchen on a curveball, and McCutchen then looked at his bat as if it had a hole in it.

Sampson, who pitched a perfect inning on Thursday, didn’t give up a hit until the third when Rodriguez hit a one-out double in the third. After a strikeout of Pirates starter Charlie Morton, Sampson walked leadoff man Gregory Polanco and Starling Marte followed with a two-run double. After McCutchen reached on an error by shortstop Eugenio Suarez, Samspon got the next batter, Kang, to ground into a fielder’s choice to end the inning.

Pirates second baseman Neil Walker led off the next inning with an apparent triple, but a crew chief review showed the ball bounce off a railing in right-center, and Walker was awarded his 10th home run of the season.

Sampson then retired the next six batters he faced.

“I feel OK about it, I know there’s always room to improve, I know I can do better, my next bullpen or whatever I’m doing,” Sampson said. “I’m just going to work on things and try to be more consistent as far as my breaking stuff.”

The Pirates would only get those three hits – half the of what the Reds mustered – but the home team was unable to capitalize, giving Sampson the loss.

In the end, the Pirates victory – not the history of beanballs, the hurt feelings or who did or said what — matters, McCutchen said.

“I don’t know what it is,” McCutchen said of the history between the teams. “We’re too busy winning. I haven’t had too much time to think about it.”