Jake Marisnick Ignites A Bench Clearing Altercation After Hit By A Pitch

Jake Marisnick ignited a bench-clearing altercation on Tuesday when he was hit by a pitch delivered by Angels reliever Noe Ramirez. Both teams cleared their benches before officials stepped in.

The incident occurs nine days after Marisnick grounded Angels catcher Jonathan Lucroy on an inadvertent home-plate collision. The professional outfielder was given a two-game suspension and an undisclosed fine.

Lucroy was unconscious after the collision and suffered a broken nose. Team physicians said that he could potentially be out for up to three weeks.

The 90-mph fastball from Ramirez hit Marisnick's back while leading off the inning. The Angels' first baseman Albert Pujols stepped off the bag and strolled toward the Astro's first-base dugout. He seemed to be yelling at the Astros players.

Mark Wegner immediately stepped in front of Pujols and steered him back to the bag. But before the first-base umpire could respond, the Angels dugout and both clubs bullpens had run onto the field.

Luckily, most of the Astros dugout stayed put behind the railing. Marisnick waved off his teammates to ease the tension on the field. A few moments later, the ground was cleared and the game resumed without any physical confrontation.

Astros manager A.J. Hinch said that everybody was expecting something to happen with Marisnick tonight. He added that the whole baseball community probably expected it, Jake was "suspended for an unintentional act."

Hinch later stated that Jake knew that he was going to get hit, the whole thing wasn't a surprise at all. If they are going to hit guys, they need to do it the right way and not "throw at a guy in the neck area."

On July 7, Marisnick tumbled through Lucroy with a shoulder-first dive at the plate while attempting to score on the third. Lucroy was unconscious during the incident, and the outfielder has vehemently said that it was unpremeditated.

On Tuesday afternoon, Marisnick defended his actions and said that he was running at one speed straight to the home plate. "I'm not coming all the way around." Lucroy was carted from the field and was scheduled to undergo a non-invasive surgical procedure to repair his broken nose.

On Sunday, Jonathan Lucroy seemed to be in high spirits; he said that once his nose is fixed, he should be able to start some activities. In fairness to Jake Marisnick, he has been apologetic during the aftermath of the collision, where he mentioned that "It's not what I wanted... feel terrible about it."