Ramirez, Guardians fight Anderson, ChiSox: 'He's been disrespecting the game'

Benches cleared during Saturday night's game between the Cleveland Guardians and Chicago White Sox after Jose Ramirez and Tim Anderson started throwing punches following a play at second base in the sixth inning at Progressive Field.

Ramirez was ruled safe after sliding through Anderson's legs having hit an RBI double to score Andres Gimenez and cut the deficit to 5-1.

The Guardians superstar seemed to take issue with Anderson's tag, getting up and pointing to Anderson's head. Second base umpire Malachi Moore briefly separated the two before backing away while Anderson took his glove off and put his fists up. The two then traded blows, with Ramirez knocking Anderson to the ground with a right hook while being held back by Chicago pitcher Michael Kopech. Both dugouts and bullpens cleared.

Both Ramirez and Anderson were ejected in the aftermath along with Cleveland closer Emmanuel Clase. White Sox manager Pedro Grifol was also tossed as well as Guardians skipper Terry Francona and third base coach Mike Sarbaugh.

The fracas continued, with White Sox catcher Yasmani Grandal and Guardians bench coach DeMarlo Hale also seemingly playing a central role.

When play resumed, Jose Tena entered the game as a pinch runner for Ramirez and Yoan Moncada came off the bench to replace Anderson. Elvis Andrus moved over to cover short for Anderson while Moncada moved to third and Zach Remillard took over second.

In the following frame, Tena took over at shortstop for Cleveland while Brayan Rocchio moved from short to third to cover for Ramirez.

"I think he's been disrespecting the game for a while," Ramirez said through an interpreter postgame. "Not just from yesterday but from before, and I had a chance to tell him during the game, 'Don't do this stuff, it's disrespectful, don't start tagging people like that,' because in reality, we're here trying to find ways to provide for our families. And when he does the things he does on the bases, it can get somebody out of the game. ... As soon as the play happened, he tagged me at the end really hard, more than needed, and then he ... said, 'I want to fight,' and if he wanted to fight I had to defend myself."

"We're not playing our best baseball right now but we're not going to get bullied by a team that's also playing less than .500 baseball," Kopech countered after the game, giving his perspective on the brawl, according to Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times. "Tempers flared, things happened, but ultimately we had a job to do. We won the game, that's all that matters."

The White Sox held on for the 7-4 victory against their AL Central rival. They improve to 44-68, 14 games back of the first-place Minnesota Twins. The Guardians, meanwhile, drop to 54-57, three-and-a-half games back of the Twins and seven-and-a-half back of the final AL wild-card spot.