No baseball player (shy of maybe Craig Biggio) enjoys getting hit by the pitch. It hurts. It’s not fun. It can cause emotions to boil over.
But man, something weird truly unfolded during the first inning of the Atlanta Braves’ game against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday.
When Josh Donaldson stepped to the plate against Pirates pitcher Joe Musgrove, a first-pitch fastball sort of grazed Donaldson’s jersey.
The Braves already had a runner in scoring position, courtesy of a Dansby Swanson double. So, there wasn’t any reason for Donaldson to think Musgrove had ill intent with the pitch. Plus, the ball hardly even made contact with Donaldson (if at all), which made the ensuing altercation so confusing.
Donaldson and Musgrove exchanged words, and the Braves third baseman went on to shove his way through Pirates players all in hopes of throwing down with Musgrove for … reasons?
Again, the ball grazed his jersey. What was there to get angry about? This was almost as weird as Madison Bumgarner getting all bent out of shape over Max Muncy taking pride in launching a home run into an ocean.
When the dust settled, both Donaldson and Musgrove were ejected. Everything about the incident was strange.
