Things got tense between two in-state rivals during ALCS Game 5 on Friday night.
In the bottom of the eighth inning of an eventual Astros 5-4 win, Rangers slugger Adolis Garcia was drilled in the front shoulder by Houston reliever Bryan Abreu, and then chaos ensued at Globe Life Field.
Garcia immediately turned around to catcher Martin Maldonado in apparent anger and even touched the backstop on his right shoulder.
Home plate umpire Marvin Hudson stood between the two, trying to prevent any further skirmish but the benches cleared and a big gathering soon enveloped the home plate area.
Garcia eventually broke loose from the fray and tried to get back to the Houston catcher, but his teammates, including former Mets pitcher Max Scherzer, held him back.
After all was said and done Abreu, Garcia and Astros manager Dusty Baker were all ejected from the game, which was delayed over 10 minutes.
“How do you prove intent?” Baker said after the game, per the Associated Press. “That’s what I don’t understand. I haven’t been that mad in a long time. And I don’t usually get mad about nothing. So I’m just glad that we won the game and it turned out right for us.”
After the Astros came back and held on for a wild win, Maldonado sat down with the Fox Sports postgame crew and seemed to downplay what Garcia said, but did say his actions might’ve sparked Houston’s rally.
“The worst thing he did was wake up the Houston Astros,” the catcher said.
Garcia said after the game said something that happened in the moment of a tense game.
“It was just the heat of the moment,” García said through an interpreter. “I just reacted to being hit by the pitch. I just reacted towards him as soon as I felt the hit. It was just a thing that happened in that instant.”
It was an eventful game for the 30-year-old Garcia, who had the game’s biggest hit prior to the home plate kerfuffle.
In the sixth inning with the Rangers down 2-1 against starter Justin Verlander, Garcia crushed a high, towering three-run homer over the left field wall to put Texas in the lead.
Garcia stood near home plate to admire the shot and then slammed his bat down in excitement as the ball cleared the wall for a go-ahead long ball.
It was Garcia’s fourth homer of the postseason.
The Astros, who have now won three straight, have a chance to clinch a spot in the World Series when they play Game 6 in Houston on Sunday night.
—With Post wires
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