Well, that escalated quickly…

Last night Royals pitcher Yordano Ventura continued his history of throwing at, hitting, and otherwise muckraking and causing benches clearing brawls by hitting Manny Machado in the back with a 99 MPH fastball. This was after throwing at him twice in the 2nd inning (causing Manny to yell some choice words at him after he hit a fly out).

This wasn’t the first altercation between Machado and Ventura. Ventura hit Machado (and Chris Davis) in September of 2015 (I have to think that Davis also being hit by Ventura had something to do with him entering the melee like a wayward rocket launched from the dugout once the fracas started).

Now, Machado is no stranger to making stupid decisions on the field, but in this case I cannot blame him for charging the mound. After throwing at him twice & hitting him the 3rd time…