MLB isn't playing baseball, but Taiwan's fan-less CPBL just had its first bench-clearing brawl of the season as Fubon Guardians pitcher Henry Sosa threw at Rakuten Monkeys batter Guo Yanwen in retaliation for an illegal bat 'appeal,' HP Umpire Lin Jinda opting to issue warnings in lieu of ejections.
This is a more complex case than simple "FIGHT!" but if you'd like to simply see a melee, the video can be found at the end of this article.
In the top of the 4th inning of Sunday's Fubon-Rakuten game, with the bases loaded and one out, Guardians batter Lin Che-Hsuan hit a first-pitch fastball from Monkeys pitcher Weng Wei-Jun on the ground to third baseman Lin Li, who threw to catcher Lin Hongyu for the second out of the inning. After the play, Rakuen alerted HP Umpire Lin Jinda as to potential illegal use of pine tar in the bat just used during the groundout.
The veteran umpire—who began his Chinese Professional Baseball League career in 2000 and officiated his 2,000th CPBL game in 2019—walked over to Fubon's dugout, took the bat, consulted with league officials via walkie talkie, and simply acknowledged the illegality of the bat, ordering it out of play without further penalty to Fubon—no additional outs, no ejections
(*jump down to see why).
In the bottom of the 4th, Guardians pitcher Sosa threw three straight inside fastballs at Rakuten batter Guo Yanwen, before drilling him in the hip with what would have otherwise been ball four, resulting in warnings—but not ejections—from the umpires.
Sosa remained in the game to strike out ensuing batter Yu-Xian Zhu—and pitch two additional innings—without further incident. At the time of the benches-clearing event, the game was tied, 1-1. The Monkeys ultimately won the contest, 3-1.
Rules analysis and video as follows:
