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'He's a loser': War of words erupt after chaotic 'base-brawl'

Andrew Reid
·2-min read
Seen on the right, Alex Cintrón taunted Ramón Laureano before a wild melee ensued.
Ramón Laureano claims he reacted after a disrespectful comment from Alex Cintrón. Pic: Getty/NBC Sports

The fighting words just keep on coming between the Oakland Athletics and Houston Astros after a wild brawl overshadowed their MLB showdown.

Athletics outfielder Ramón Laureano and Astros hitting coach Alex Cintrón became involved in a spiteful slanging match mid-game, before the former threw his bat and helmet to the ground and sprinted towards the Houston coach.

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The A's star didn't quite make it to Cintrón, however, with Astros catcher Dustin Garneau stopping him dead in his tracks with a bruising tackle that wouldn't have looked out of place in rugby league.

Laureano lay pinned to the ground as players sprinted from all directions to get involved in the chaotic melee.

The Oakland star clearly isn't about to let the incident die down, however, despite saying he regrets how things went down.

Laureano claims the Astros hitting coach made an offensive comment about his mother, prompting the dramatic scenes that subsequently unfolded.

“I regret charging him because he’s a loser,” Laureano told ESPN’s Jeff Passan.

“[A suspension] is understandable, but I hope it’s not that many games.”

Suspensions expected after ugly incident

Cintrón has not spoken publicly about his side of the story, but ESPN says he denies talking about Laureano’s mother.

Meanwhile, Astros manager Dusty Baker confirmed he had met with Cintrón, whom he says was “remorseful" about the incident according to the Houston Chronicle.

Pictured here, Houston's Dustin Garneau tackles Oakland's Ramón Laureano in a wild MLB scuffle.
Dustin Garneau tackled Ramón Laureano to the ground in the wild incident. Pic: NBC Sports

The question now is what sort of suspensions are coming for the two of them.

Both will certainly be punished by the league as MLB has made clear it does not want bench-clearing behaviour during the coronavirus pandemic.

According to ESPN, Cintrón “stands to receive a significantly lengthier ban” because he is a coach.

The league has already set a pretty high precedent by suspending Joe Kelly of the Los Angeles Dodgers for his role in a benches-clearing argument with the Astros.

Kelly threw near the heads of two Astros hitters and then taunted Carlos Correa and received an eight-game suspension.

with Yahoo Sports US