Tempers flared at Citi Field on Friday night.
In the eighth inning, the Rockies hit two home runs off of Drew Gagnon, one from David Dahl and one from former-Met Daniel Murphy. After Murphy's long ball, Gagnon drilled the next batter, Rockies center fielder Ian Desmond.
Both benches emptied and there was some shouting back and forth, but no punches were thrown and no players were ejected.
After the game, Gagnon said there was no intent in hitting Desmond, citing his lack of overall control in the inning.
"I see where they're coming from, but I wasn't throwing strikes all day," Gagnon said after the game. "The ball slipped. It was a two-seamer, so complete accident.
"I wasn't making pitches all night ... When you give up two home runs and you hit a guy, it looks bad, but that wasn't my intention at all."
The Mets and Rockies just cleared the benches after Ian Desmond was hit by a pitch. pic.twitter.com/z1h4XBsdUb
- SNY (@SNYtv) June 8, 2019
Mets skipper Mickey Callaway was also asked about the benches clearing, and he echoed his pitcher's thoughts.
"Obviously Gagnon wasn't hitting anybody on purpose. He's trying to get outs right there and trying to keep the game as close as possible. Hopefully they'll realize that, but you want to protect your players."
The umpires did issue warnings to both teams to ensure that nothing escalated further.
"We determined that we did not think the pitch was intentional," said crew chief Mike Winters. "And then, given the situation, when everybody's milling around like that, it's usually the best move to put in a warning."
The Rockies seemed to think there was some intent, as players like Murphy came out of the dugout heated. Cooler heads prevailed, though, as both sides went back to their respective dugouts and bullpens without any further altercation.
"It happens," Todd Frazier said. "I don't think there's any intent by it. It's just one of those things were the guy got hit by a pitch, kind of squared him up. If I'm the batter I'm upset too, but that's just baseball. Drew definitely didn't do anything purposely, and their bench got excited. That's basically what it was. Their bench came out hot, so that was it."