Game 5 of the ALCS was always going to hold some drama as the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros battled for a lead in a 2-2 series.
There were fireworks in the sixth inning when Adolis Garcia hit a go-ahead home run for the Rangers. And then it got explosive in the eighth inning when Garcia came to the plate for the first time since his massive postseason moment.
Astros pitcher Bryan Abreu hit Garcia in the left shoulder with a 98-mph fastball, setting off a chain of events that would result in ejections for both players and Astros manager Dusty Baker.
Benches clear in ALCS over Adolis Garcia HBP
When Garcia took offense to Abreu's pitch and got in the face of catcher Martin Maldonado, the benches cleared and both teams met in heated mass near home plate.
It took several minutes to clear things away and get back to playing. In the meantime, Abreu as ejected along with Garcia, while Baker got the boot for protesting his pitcher's ejection.
Tom Verducci on the FS1 broadcast revealed that the umpires determined Abreu intentionally threw at Garcia.
It's obviously tough to determine a player's intent, but the circumstances had the umpires on edge. Garcia had just hit a game-changing home run a couple of innings earlier and he took his time celebrating it.
Of course, Baker and the Astros would argue that they wouldn't risk putting a man on base in such a key part of a key game just to send a message. That's not the kind of thing done in October.
Either way, the benches cleared three ejections followed.
