LOS ANGELES – San Francisco Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner was walking off the field in the seventh inning Monday when a disagreement erupted.
The cause: Yasiel Puig, having run out a ground ball, was looking at him.
“Don’t look at me,” Bumgarner shouted at Puig.
“What?” Puig appeared to bark back, then wondered aloud what Bumgarner intended to do.
If his intention was to provoke a benches-clearing incident, Bumgarner succeeded. If his intention was to convince his manager, Bruce Bochy, to remove him from the game, Bumgarner did that too.
And if Bumgarner simply wanted to add drama to a 1-0 game, equal parts crapshooter and provocateur, then maybe he went out on his own terms.