DENVER -- Rockies left-handed starter Kyle Freeland was adamant that Giants slugger Rafael Devers was taking too long to trot out his two-run homer in the first inning of Tuesday night’s game at Coors Field.
After benches and bullpens cleared and pushing ensued, after umpires and peacemaking players on both teams separated the more heated combatants and the disagreement continued with long-distance shouting, Devers finally finished rounding the bases -- eight minutes after his 397-foot shot landed in the right-field bleachers to give the Giants an early two-run lead.
It was a chaotic start to a game that ended in a 7-4 win for San Francisco (70-69), which has now won nine of its last 10 games to climb back over .500 for the first time since Aug. 9. The loss dropped the Rockies to 39-100 – their third consecutive season reaching the century mark in the loss column.
The melee resulted in ejections for Freeland and Giants infielders Matt Chapman and Willy Adames, who was tossed before he could take an at-bat on his 30th birthday.
After Devers powered Freeland's 0-2 sweeper into the right-field stands, he staggered backward and took a few steps toward first base while watching the ball sail. Then he flipped his bat and began his trot, as Freeland yelled at him and motioned with his glove to run around the bases.
Devers yelled back before reaching first base. After touching the bag, Devers began moving toward the approaching Freeland.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Devers said in Spanish. “I didn’t do anything different from when I hit a home run. I don’t know why it bothered him.”
Freeland said his actions had nothing to do with frustration over the season -- his team’s and his own (3-14, 5.41 ERA).
“I found it extremely disrespectful to show me up like that in the first inning -- after hitting the home run, standing there watching it, taking your sweet time getting down to first base. I’ve been in this league for quite some time. I know he has as well. I just find that extremely disrespectful and felt that I needed to let him know about that.
“Given the circumstances, it's the first inning and you want to try and play a cool head. At the same time, being disrespected like that, I felt there was a need to say something and let him know, 'You disrespected me. You showed me up and I don't respect you doing that, coming into my ballpark and doing that.’"
Giants starter Logan Webb, who earned the win after striking out seven over five innings of two-run ball, said Freeland has a reputation for chirping.
“I’m surprised it hasn’t happened before with that guy,” Webb said. “He runs his mouth a lot of the time. Rafi got him good.”
Once the Freeland-Devers debate became more heated, the rush of players began.
Chapman and Adames were among the first on the scene, with Chapman escalating matters by shoving Freeland. Rockies first baseman Kyle Farmer was first to help umpires begin to separate the players. The traffic jam of most everyone moved toward second base, and Rockies interim manager Warren Schaeffer pulled Freeland away.
Just when there was hope of calm, with Freeland by the Rockies dugout being restrained by bench coach Clint Hurdle, Adames broke away from the crowd and began screaming Freeland’s way. The debate continued, but Giants bench coach Ryan Christenson was able to restrain Adames.
Freeland resumed his place on the mound before crew chief Dan Bellino announced that he, Chapman and Adames had been ejected for instigating the brawl.
"I don't know why Chapman and Adames got ejected,” Freeland said. “I'm assuming it's because they came up and shoved me. Devers also shoved me. That's the spot I don't understand why he wasn't ejected. But, again, I was the one who instigated everything and I understand why I was ejected."
Schaeffer said, “It happens a lot in this game, but these things are subjective. He felt disrespected and he did what he did. At the end of the day, when your starter doesn’t get an out in the first inning and he’s gone, that hurts the ballclub. He knows that.”
Righty Antonio Senzatela replaced Freeland, and Devers was eventually given the green light by the umpiring crew to complete his delayed trip around the bases. Devers was permitted to wander off the bag during the fracas since the umpires ruled it a dead-ball situation, so he just had to make sure to re-touch first base before coming home.
What would have happened if Devers had been ejected before he could complete his home run trot? Bellino told a pool reporter after the game that Devers would have still been credited with a homer, though the Giants wouldn’t have been required to send in a pinch-runner to run the bases for him.
(Believe it or not, the Giants have a bit of a historical precedent for this type of scenario, as a similar situation unfolded with Bengie Molina on Sept. 26, 2008. Molina reached first base on an apparent single and was replaced by pinch-runner Emmanuel Burriss, but replay review later determined that Molina had actually homered. Molina, however, wasn’t allowed to re-enter the game to round the bases, meaning he was credited with the homer and two RBIs but not the run scored.)
The Giants ultimately didn’t have to carry on without Devers, but they were forced to play without two of their top position players following the 13-minute delay. Casey Schmitt was initially left out of San Francisco’s lineup after he was hit on the right elbow on Monday, but he took Adames’ spot in the batting order and stayed in to play second base, with Christian Koss sliding over to play shortstop.
Dominic Smith pinch-hit for Chapman and came in to play first, with Devers moving over to play third base for the first time this season.
“He didn’t even have a glove,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said of Devers. “He used Chapman’s glove. He didn’t even have his third baseman’s glove here. And he played well over there.
“For a guy that hasn’t played there in a year or whatever it’s been, he stepped up for us, for sure.”
The Giants continued to lean on the long ball for the rest of the night, as Schmitt and Wilmer Flores launched fifth-inning homers off Senzatela and Angel Chivilli to stretch their lead to 5-1.
Rockies catcher Hunter Goodman cut the deficit to 5-4 with a two-run blast off José Buttó in the bottom of the seventh, but the Giants padded their lead the following inning after Patrick Bailey delivered another two-run shot off Jaden Hill.
“It was great to see,” Webb said. “The boys rallied. You never really want to see that stuff, but I think it’s sometimes a fire starter in a good way.”