The Atlanta Braves and the Washington Nationals have built up a nice rivalry over the past few seasons. As the Nationals continue to improve, they battle with the Braves each year for the National League East crown. However, things were taken a little too far after Tuesday night's game and now the Braves are issuing an apology.
Benches cleared on Tuesday night after Bryce Harper was hit by a pitch off of Julio Teheran in his second at-bat of the game. Previously, Harper had gone deep off the Braves pitcher, leaving many to feel like he spent a little too long admiring his home run. After he got hit, choice words were exchanged and a brawl almost broke out.
Naturally, the Braves took to Twitter to respond writing, "Clown move bro." Shortly after, the Nationals Twitter account posted, "Which part, giving up the home run, or drilling the 20-year-old on the first pitch his next time up?" The war of words stopped there, but the Braves realize that starting a social media battle with another team is not the best business to practice.
"It doesn't reflect how we feel, how we want to do business or who we are," general manager Frank Wren said. "But that's really all I have to say about it. It was an inappropriate attempt at humor. And I think you shouldn't ever be directing anything - unless it's positive or uplifting - at another team or an opponent. I think that's kind of plain and simple."
After Tuesday's fight, Washington general manager Davey Johnson said the team was filing the incident away for later, leading many to wonder if the Nationals would seek further retaliation for the hit. Wednesday's game was much smoother with Johnson to say it was just "baseball as usual." The manager claimed Harper took a slower jog around the bases after the home run because of a nagging knee injury.
That nagging knee injury led to bickering between Johnson and Harper on Wednesday. The outfielder insisted that he stay in the game while the manager wanted to take the young star out. Thankfully, that was the only fight recorded as the Braves completed a sweep of the Nationals in Washington. The saga might not be over though as the two teams will face each other six more times during the season.
