A disagreement between Braves pitcher Reynaldo Lopez and Angels slugger Jorge Soler sparked a bench-clearing brawl on Tuesday night, with both throwing punches at each other.
Soler was at the plate during the fifth inning when he took exception to a pitch from Lopez that came in high and inside, going all the way to the backstop.
As catcher Jonah Heim retrieved the ball and fired to second base in effort to gun down Nolan Schanuel, who advanced on the wild pitch, Soler and Lopez exchanged some heated words.
Soler began to approach the mound after Lopez received a new ball from Heim – that’s when things quickly escalated.
Soler dropped the bat and charged at Lopez, with both players throwing punches at each other.
Benches and bullpens cleared as the players landed some serious punches before Soler eventually was taken down by Braves manager Walt Weiss while other players stepped in to separate the two.
During the initial chaos, Lopez appears to clock Soler while still holding onto the baseball – a move that could’ve caused serious damage had it not connected with Soler’s batting helmet.
What did the players say after the game?
“I asked him if everything was OK and the answer he gave me, I didn’t like it,” Soler said through a translator after the game, according to MLB.com. “That’s why I went out there.”
Soler said he believed that Lopez was looking for payback after taking him deep for a home run earlier in the game.
“Obviously, I have good numbers against him,” Soler said. “After the home run and getting hit by a pitch after that, and then he missed way too high and close to my head. At this level, you can’t miss like that.”
Lopez said that he had no intention of hitting Soler.
“It’s just a shame, the situation and how things unfolded,” Lopez said through a translator. “On my part, there was never any intent to hit him at any point. So, again, it’s just a shame.”
Both players were ejected from the game and MLB has yet to rule if any further punishment will be issued.
Jeimer Candelario replaced Soler at the plate for the at-bat while Tyler Kinley took the mound for Atlanta and eventually collected the victory as the Braves went on to win the contest 7-2.
Players had been teammates
Soler previously played twice for the Braves in his career and had been teammates with Lopez during the 2024 season in Atlanta.
“I love Soler. We were teammates here,” Weiss said. “But that’s a big man, and so I just felt I’ve gotta get him off his feet because he’s gonna hurt somebody. And so that was my instinct, just to get in there and get Jorge off his feet, yeah, because he was on a warpath.”