Benches clear after Blue Jays LHP shoves Rays player in face

Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Jose Caballero (7) stares at Toronto Blue Jays relief pitcher Genesis Cabrera (92) after they collide in the seventh inning of the game at Tropicana Field. Jonathan Dyer-USA TODAY Sports

Watch: Benches clear after Blue Jays reliever shoves Rays player in face

By Adam Gretz | Last updated 3/31/24

The 2024 Major League Baseball season is only a couple of days old and we have already seen a couple of bench-clearing incidents. The latest came on Saturday afternoon in Tampa Bay when the Rays and Toronto Blue Jays had a bizarre altercation at third base.

Tampa Bay's Jose Caballero dropped down a bunt in the bottom of the seventh inning that scored Randy Arozarena to give the Rays a 4-1 lead. But because there was a throwing error on the play, Caballero decided to try and stretch it to third base where he ended up getting thrown out.

Caballero knew he was out, slowed down and simply got tagged. But after he ran through the bag, he bumped into Toronto relief pitcher Genesis Cabrera, who was backing up the play.

Cabrera did not take the contact lightly, and after some brief words were exchanged, he delivered a two-handed shove to Caballero's face.

That quickly emptied the benches.

Totally normal and sane reaction to a bunt smh pic.twitter.com/eXJWpbGjjR
— Bally Sports Sun: Rays (@BallyRays) March 30, 2024

Nobody ended up being ejected and cooler heads eventually prevailed, but that was definitely an odd moment. Maybe Cabrera was frustrated by the error? Maybe he did not like getting bumped? Either way, things escalated pretty quickly there when they probably did not need to escalate.

The Rays went on to win the game 5-1 to improve to 2-1 on the young season. The two teams play again on Sunday afternoon in Tampa.

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