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For a Tigers' season that seemed to be stuck in dullsville, Thursday's game at Comerica Park against the New York Yankees was pretty darn exciting.
First Miguel Cabrera, who has been struggling all year, took some swings at the Yankee's catcher Austin Romine (brother of Tiger Andrew Romine) in the sixth inning after the pitcher threw at him and was kicked out of the game. The benches emptied and a brawl broke out.
Afterward, TV cameras showed Tigers' pitcher Justin Verlander and Victor Martinez jawing at one another in the dugout.
And that was the real mystery of the game, which ended with a 10-6 victory for the Tigers. Like in the old days of the Mafia, the code of silence (Omerta) was activated.
"I was actually on the field, so I haven't seen it, I haven't talked to them about it," Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said when asked about Verlander/Martinez incident, the Detroit Free Press reports. "I'm aware of it, but I couldn't tell you what it was about."
Asked if it bothered him that teammates would get into a disagreement, he said: "No, again, emotions are running high. They're running high on both sides."
George Sipple writes reports:
Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez threw a punch at Nick Castellanos during the skirmish. Castellanos said he was just trying to separate Cabrera and Romine when he got hit. Castellanos appeared to be explaining what happened to him to Martinez.
Verlander and Castellanos seemed upset with Martinez, who was chummy with Sanchez in the aftermath of the incident.
Verlander appeared to wave his hand away as Martinez was talking. Verlander then walked away and Martinez had to be held back by Castellanos.
Asked about the dugout incident, Castellanos says: “We handled it. It's an in-house matter and it's been handled.”
Justin Verlander was NOT happy Victor Martinez tried to play peacemaker pic.twitter.com/iFIOKDUE2T
— Jesse Foster (@Jesse__Foster) August 24, 2017