Tensions were sky-high at T-Mobile Park in Seattle on Wednesday night.
The Mariners and Tigers benches cleared in the eighth inning when Seattle reliever Drew Speier hit ex-Yankeee Gleyber Torres.
Speier and his manager Dan Wilson were ejected, but there was no physical altercation.
In total, four Tigers were hit by pitches during Wednesday’s contest. Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh was beaned in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Mariners starter Bryan Woo became the first MLB pitcher since Yu Darvish in 2022 to throw seven scoreless innings while hitting three batters.
After Torres couldn’t escape an inside fastball, he and Raleigh got in each others’ faces before Tigers manager AJ Hinch came out to pull Torres away.
Torres theorized that the tension is left over from a contentious series in April, when Mariners first baseman Josh Naylor was hit by a Keider Montero fastball in his back.
Naylor had crashed into Tigers rookie Kevin McGonigle at first base and then appeared to toss his sliding mitt at catcher Dillon Dingler on his way to home plate before Montero seemingly retaliated.
Naylor proceeded to slide hard into second base further igniting tensions.
“I really believe whatever happened at home with Naylor and everything, I think they just got feelings before,” Torres said. “But this is baseball, and I don’t have any issues. Like I said, they protect Raleigh, and that’s what it is. I’m good.”
The Tigers and Mariners close out the series Thursday afternoon.
Framber Valdez, who was pictured laughing in the dugout after Naylor’s hit-by-pitch in their last meeting, will be on the mound for Detroit.
“I think the back-to-back pitches in a weird spot to Gleyber, one of them smoking him, created a lot of emotions,” Hinch said. “We all end up on the field, umpires met and deemed it intentional enough to throw him out. I know it came right after Cal got smoked, which is what makes it a little uncomfortable for everybody.”
