BASEBALL superstar Bryce Harper started a bench-clearing brawl after being hit with a 98mph fastball by rival pitcher Hunter Strickland.
Harper, 24, is one of Major League Baseball’s biggest draws but the slugger landed several clean punches – and received shots himself – after a wayward pitch hit him on the hip.
The two players have some history after Harper hit two home runs off of Strickland’s pitching when Harper’s Washington Nationals met Strickland’s San Francisco Giants in the play-offs in 2014.
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After a pitch landed square in Harper’s hip, he charged the mound – such was his anger that an attempt to throw his helmet ended up missing by miles.
Strickland appeared to land the first punch before the two traded meaty blows.
Other Giants players then came in to pull the two apart before both benches cleared to separate the players.
A clearly enraged Strickland wanted to carry on the brawl – and it took three team-mates to shepherd him back to the dugout.
Both players were ejected and MLB will now review the incident and decide whether further action is needed.
Speaking after the game, the 6ft 4in, 15 stone Harper said: “You either go to first base or you go after him, and I decided to go after him.”
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Harper said he wasn’t expecting Strickland to target him, despite their 2014 exchange.
“No, not in that situation,” four-time All-Star and former NL MVP Harper said.
“Especially since it’s been three years and they won the World Series that year.
“So I wasn’t really thinking about it at all.
“But when somebody comes at you like that, throws a 90 mph fastball where he did, I wasn’t very happy with it and took it into my hands and tried to go after him.”
Strickland claimed he wasn’t trying to hit Harper – but as soon as he charged the mound it was “go time”.
“I can see how [our history] kind of stands in people’s minds, but that’s the past,” Strickland said.
“Like I said, I left the ball over the plate a couple times to him.
“He’s taken advantage of that. So obviously I’d rather miss in than over the plate.”
Harper later admitted that he had some respect for Strickland for not throwing the ball at his head.
“One thing I’ve got to say about Strickland is he hit me in the right spot, so I do respect him for that.
“He didn’t come up and in toward my face like some guys do, so I respect him on that level.
“[But] It just wasn’t relevant. Like I said, it was three years ago, over a thousand days I guess.
“I don’t know why he’s thinking about it.
“He’s got a World Series ring.
“It’s on his finger and he’s able to look at it every single night.”
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