On Tuesday night, we saw a brawl between the Detroit Shock and Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA. Last night, there was a big brawl at a minor league game in Dayton, OH between the Dayton Dragons and the Peoria Chiefs.
The game started with a beaning when Peoria pitcher Julio Castillo hit Dayton shortstop Zachary Kozart in the head. Kozart left the game. Then on a groundball just past Castillo, he collided with his second baseman Gian Guzman, who left the contest with a broken leg. The Dragons scored 4 runs and then Castillo plunked Angel Cabrera. On a forceout at second, Cabrera slid in hard to second base.
Peoria’s interim manager Carlos Martinez took exception to the slide and started arguing with Dayton skipper Donnie Scott. When it appeared that both managers had made contact with each other, Castillo decided to be a bonehead (and most likely earning himself automatic entry into Carl Everett’s Crazy Hall of Fame) and fire a ball towards the Dragons dugout.
He missed the dugout and the ball ricocheted into the crowd striking and injuring a fan. Then the benches cleared and all heck broke loose. Here is the video goodness of part of the brawl. There is no volume to the video.
All told, 15 players from both sides were ejected from the game and Castillo was placed under arrest. He will be arraigned later today. The game was actually postponed before Midwest League president George Spelius reinstated all the players so the teams could finish the game. The game finished incident free from that point
The injured fan was taken to the hospital and the extent of his injuries are not known at this time.
Julio Castillo, the pitcher who threw the ball at the dugout and into the stands, is being held on $50,000 bond and had to surrender his Dominican passport.