Angels and Mariners benches clear, a breakdown
What Happened
On June 25, 2022, the Angels felt the Mariners threw twice up and in near Mike Trout's head during a close game in Seattle, then took offense when Seattle celebrated with their 'washing machine' dance after the final out. Angels manager Phil Nevin barked at Mariners skipper Scott Servais during the postgame handshake line. The next day, June 26, the Angels sent reliever Andrew Wantz out as an opener, and he threw behind Julio Rodriguez in the first inning, drawing warnings to both benches. In the second, Wantz drilled Jesse Winker in the backside on the first pitch, and Winker charged the dugout to set off a full benches-clearing brawl with punches thrown.
Why This Matters
This is a textbook escalation story that exposes how warnings actually work. Once umpires issue warnings, the next hit batter should mean an automatic ejection for pitcher and manager, which is why the Angels' 'opener' move read as a planned hit job to nearly everyone watching. The grievance traced back nine days, when Michael Lorenzen plunked Justin Upton in the head and Seattle stayed quiet, undercutting the Angels' high-ground argument. The fallout was massive. MLB handed down a wave of suspensions: Winker, Nevin, Wantz, Anthony Rendon, and others all got dinged, with Nevin's eventually serving as a marker of his tense interim tenure. For a 2022 Angels club already drowning despite Trout and Shohei Ohtani, the brawl became another chapter in a lost, frustrating season.
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Key Moments
Who / What Is Involved
Players: Mike Trout. Teams: Mariners, Angels.
Full Transcript
the angels and mariners benches cleared and punches were thrown it was a doozy there's a lot of chapters to this story so hang with me it's brought to you by draftkings thank you to them for sponsoring the videos it really starts on saturday june 25th mike trout's coming to the plate now there's stuff before this players have been hit mike trout crushes the mariners it's a close game the pitching coach comes out and the first one is up and in and then the next one is up and way too up and way too in at his head wild pitch so the runner moves a second so there's no longer a force and you need to get that last out and that is scary and trout flashes them a look like uh what the hell was that about you had a meeting at the mound and then i got two pitches up and in and the catcher looks at trout and it's like i hope you're not mad at me man i didn't call for it you're my idol and i really like you and trout's like funny business huh funny business after the game he said he was frustrated with the high and in heater that proceeded to walk he said if you can't pitch inside don't pitch inside if you're going to hit me hit me in the ribs don't hit me in the head i don't know if that was the intent but anything at the head you don't do that now the pitcher who threw the ball he said that he was just zeroing in on trout's weakest quadrants of the strike zone which is the upper rail you're trying to go up right there if i'm going to miss up that's...