San Francisco third baseman Rafael Devers says he did nothing wrong after admiring his home run in the top of the first inning of the Giants’ 7-4 win over the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday, September 2.
Rockies starting pitcher Kyle Freeland disagreed, and their ensuing shouting match as Devers, 28, began to round the bases caused both benches to clear and three players to be ejected.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Devers told the media in Spanish after the game, per MLB.com. “I didn’t do anything different from when I hit a home run. I don’t know why it bothered him.”
Freeland, 32, felt Devers disrespected him by staying in the batter’s box to admire the home run and slowly beginning his home run trot.
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“I found it extremely disrespectful to show me up like that in the first inning – after hitting the home run, standing there watching it, taking your sweet time getting down to first base,” Freeland said. “I’ve been in this league for quite some time. I know he has as well. I just find that extremely disrespectful and felt that I needed to let him know about that.”
As Devers rounded first base, cameras caught him shouting and beginning to walk toward the Rockies pitcher while umpires and other players tried to get between the two. The benches then emptied as the scuffle resulted in a mass of pushing, shoving and a few punches that appeared to land.
When the dust settled, umpires threw Freeland out of the game, as well as Giants infielders Matt Chapman and Willy Adames. With the Giants fighting for their playoff lives, they can ill afford any suspensions the Commissioner’s office might hand down from the fracas.
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“Given the circumstances, it’s the first inning and you want to try and play a cool head,” Freeland added. “At the same time, being disrespected like that, I felt there was a need to say something and let him know, ‘You disrespected me. You showed me up and I don’t respect you doing that, coming into my ballpark and doing that.’”
Giants starting pitcher Logan Webb came to Devers’ defense after the game, saying Freeland has a history of picking fights with his opponents.
“I’m surprised it hasn’t happened before with that guy,” said Webb, 28. “He runs his mouth a lot of the time. Rafi got him good.”
Devers ultimately finished rounding the bases nearly 10 minutes after he hit the home run — an ironic twist after the fight started due to him allegedly taking his time to admire the blast.
