The Los Angeles Angels and Atlanta Braves got into a frenzied fight on Tuesday night.
The incident occurred in the bottom of the fifth inning with one out and a runner on first base. Angels slugger Jorge Soler was at the plate facing off against Braves pitcher Reynaldo López.
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López threw a pitch high and inside. The ball went over Jonah Heim’s glove, caromed off the backstop and Heim was able to recover the ball and fire it to second base to try to get the runner stealing second base. The throw was too late, but the fireworks started soon after the throw.
Soler appeared to take exception to the pitch and charged at López. Soler was throwing haymakers, while López was throwing punches to fend him off. Soler was tackled to the ground by Braves manager Walt Weiss before any major damage was done and López was forced out of the scrum.
The Angels player received a standing ovation as he walked back to the dugout following his immediate ejection.
“I love Soler. We were teammates here,” Weiss said. “But that’s a big man, and so I just felt I’ve gotta get him off his feet because he’s gonna hurt somebody. And so that was my instinct, just to get in there and get Jorge off his feet, yeah, because he was on a warpath.”
Weiss was an assistant coach with the Braves in 2021 when the Braves won the World Series. Soler was the World Series MVP that year. He and López were teammates in 2024.
“It’s just a shame, the situation and how things unfolded,” López said through a translator, according to MLB.com. “On my part, there was never any intent to hit him at any point. So, again, it’s just a shame.”
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Soler hit a home run off López in the first inning. He’s 14-of-23 with five home runs and three doubles against López all time.
“Obviously, I have good numbers against him,” Soler said. “After the home run and getting hit by a pitch after that, and then he missed way too high and close to my head. At this level, you can’t miss like that.”
Weiss said he understood the frustration.
“I know it didn’t look good because of Soler’s numbers against Lópey, and he hit a homer, he hit him. It didn’t look good,” Weiss said. “Lópey’s not throwing at him. I don’t allow our pitchers to throw at people just because they can’t get ’em out. Our job is to get ’em out. But I understand why Soler got angry. And he’s a really mild-mannered guy. So, I think the switch flipped for him.
“There was no intent there. I just think that Lópey’s just overthrowing, because he’s had a hard time getting him out. But he’s certainly not trying to hit him.”
Atlanta won the game on Tuesday, 7-2.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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