Why did the Philadelphia Phillies and San Francisco Giants clear the benches?

While it can be considered ‘soft’ when it comes to what we normally think of when we talk about bench-clearing, it’s clear that no love was lost between the Giants and Phillies this week after San Francisco’s pitcher got a little too close for comfort to Philadelphia’s star.

The Phillies and Giants went at it

If you caught the Wednesday game between the Philadelphia Phillies and San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park, then you definitely saw things get a little out of hand. The moment in question occurred after the Giants left-handed pitcher, Kyle Harrison threw two consecutive fastballs up and in on Phillies star Bryce Harper. Words were of course exchanged between the two but after Harrison’s second pitch which hit Harper’s bat for a foul ball, it was clear things were going to kick off.

Now it’s worth noting that Wednesday was actually seven years to the day that Harper took exception to a fastball thrown by Hunter Strickland, a player with whom he has History. The result? A massive brawl. At the time, the now Phillies slugger was playing for the Washington Nationals when he took Strickland deep, something the pitcher didn’t appreciate. Interestingly, Harper would later state that it was not his way. “I don’t want to go on a baseball field and try to fight somebody,” Harper said following that Game in 2017. “Especially when it’s somebody that it’s in the past. It’s so in the past that it’s not even relevant anymore. ...I don’t know why he did it or what he did it for, but I guess it happens.”

On another note, we should also make mention of the fact that Harper, was actually been hit by a pitch in the face in 2021 and then on his thumb in 2022. Indeed, the latter required surgery which left him on the sidelines for almost two months. The point of all of this is that it’s safe to assume that no batter enjoys being hit by a pitch. That said, ‘violence is never the answer.’ At any rate, it did make for an interesting moment in a Game that the Phillies otherwise dominated, winning 6-1 in the end.