Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Jose Alvarado. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Jose Alvarado started yapping at the New York Mets after striking out Dom Smith resulting in the benches clearing.
The Phillies weren’t done with HBP drama when their series with the Cardinals ended.
On Friday in Game 1 of the series with the Mets, things got testy when pitcher Jose Alvarado struck out Dom Smith.
Alvarado celebrated the strikeout by jawing at Smith and the Mets bullpen. Then the benches cleared.
This all comes back to a series of beans. Alvarado hit Jeff McNeil with a pitch to start the eighth inning. That wasn’t the first time the reliever got a piece of a Mets batter. He sent a pitch near Michael Conforto’s face, then plonked him for real during the last series between the two teams. Dom Smith took exception to that at the time.
If you expected things to end there, think again.
The Phillies and Mets keep riling each other up
The benches cleared again when Mets pitcher Miguel Castro went inside against Rhys Hoskins. At the suggestion that it was on purpose, the teams spent more time jawing at each other.
With another three games to play in the series, this one should be plenty spicy.