Seby Zavala of the Chicago White Sox and Oneil Cruz of the Pittsburgh Pirates were involved in a bench-clearing incident during the series finale on Sunday.
On a play at the plate, Cruz awkwardly slid into Zavala and caused a lot of contact. Zavala recorded the out and Cruz was seriously injured, but Zavala was not happy with what Cruz had done.
As a result, the benches were cleared and the players exchanged words. Zavala was very upset with Cruz’s awkward slide and is lucky he didn’t end up with a serious injury. Cruz, however, was not so lucky.
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A hot microphone captured some of the dialogue in the moments immediately after the collision:
“B***! What the hell is that?”
The microphones went black after that, but it’s clear the White Sox catcher was furious with Cruz and let him know. This was while the star shortstop was writhing on the ground in pain. Zavala also threw the helmet at him after the incident.
What happened to Oneil Cruz?
The incident couldn’t have gone much worse for Oneil Cruz. The shortstop was not only ejected and unable to score a run, but he broke his ankle in the slide and caused a bench-clearing incident. It also drew the ire of Zavala and the rest of the White Sox.
As of now, no schedule has been announced, but Cruz is likely to be out for a long time. A broken ankle often takes two months or more to heal, so he could be out for much of the Pirates’ season.