Rangers’ García slams Astros plunking: ‘Not right’
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Alden Gonzalez, ESPN Staff Writer
ARLINGTON, Texas — Adolis García took a 99-mph fastball to his left arm in Friday’s eighth inning and immediately turned to Houston Astros catcher Martín Maldonado.
“Why like that?!” García yelled, according to Maldonado.
“Like what?” Maldonado responded.
Two innings earlier, García hit a three-run homer that gave his Texas Rangers a two-run lead and celebrated emphatically, walking halfway up the first-base line and slamming his bat onto the Globe Life Field turf before making his way around the bases. Less than three months before that, García and Maldonado had jawed at each other at home plate in another benches-clearing incident. It all raced through García’s mind in a split second.
“I felt like that hit by pitch could’ve been worse,” García said, “and I told him that was not right.”
A series devoid of drama through its first four contests finally sprung to life in the pivotal Game 5 of this American League Championship Series, reigniting some of the tension between two division rivals separated by 250 miles. García hit the big home run in the sixth, then took exception to being plunked two innings later. Benches cleared. Three ejections were handed out. And then Jose Altuve finished it off with the ninth-inning three-run homer that sent the Astros to a dramatic 5-4 victory, putting them one win away from their fifth World Series appearance in seven years.
Maldonado was later asked if he believed the emotions of the eighth inning fired his team up.
“Yeah,” he said, “I do.”
García and the man who threw at him, Astros right-hander Bryan Abreu, were both ejected. Astros manager Dusty Baker was ejected, too, following a heated discussion with umpires who saw him fling his cap against the dugout railing. The hit by pitch occurred in the late stages of a two-run game, with a runner on first and none out, and it ultimately prompted the Astros to turn to their closer, Ryan Pressly, an inning early. Several members of the Astros pointed to that as their defense.
“It didn’t make any sense to me,” Baker said of the notion that Abreu hit García on purpose, later adding: “I can understand how he’d take exception to that; nobody likes to get hit. But you’re not going to add runs on in the [eighth] inning of the playoffs when they’re trying to win a game. … I don’t understand. I haven’t been that mad in a long time, and I don’t usually get mad at nothing.”
Rangers reliever Aroldis Chapman was among those who disagreed with Baker’s interpretation.
“Anybody who watched that game knows that he hit him intentionally,” Chapman said in Spanish.
Asked why, Chapman said: “I imagine it’s the way he celebrated the home run he hit [two innings earlier]. I imagine it’s because of that. But I don’t think there’s any reason to hit somebody the way he did. These days, guys hit home runs and celebrate the way they want to. That era of guys celebrating and then getting hit — that’s in the past. It’s really ugly on his part to have done something like that.”
“I mean, yeah, it doesn’t look good,” Rangers third baseman Josh Jung added. “Guy hits a big homer, watched it for a second and guy comes in who throws really hard — I know he said it slipped. But if you go back and watch it, it looks like it slipped straight at Adolis.”
Benches cleared between the Rangers and Astros at Minute Maid Park in Houston on July 26, in the wake of García’s fifth-inning grand slam. Marcus Semien exchanged words with Maldonado when he reached home plate and García later joined him, prompting benches and bullpens to empty. Semien had been hit two innings earlier. No punches were thrown that night. They weren’t thrown Friday, either, but García charged at Maldonado after most of the players had reached the playing field and had to be separated a second time. Yordan Alvarez, his Cuban countryman, walked with García in an effort to calm him, telling him Abreu wasn’t trying to hit him.
“Everybody on their side is going to say it wasn’t, everybody on this side is going to say it was,” Semien said. “The only one who really knows is the pitcher.”
Maldonado said he was set up outside and that the Astros “weren’t trying to hit anybody.”
Altuve said he had no issue with García’s celebration, saying he doesn’t find such displays of emotion “disrespectful at all.” Abreu agreed.
“I’m the kind of guy that I don’t care about celebrations,” Abreu said. “That was a big, big moment, big spot for him. He hit a homer, he got a chance to celebrate and do whatever he wants. I just went in and just tried to compete against him. That was a tough spot for me. I just want to keep the lead that they have in the bottom of the eighth and just tried to compete against him.”
Astros starter Justin Verlander, who gave up the home run to García and exited his start moments later, said he was “disappointed” that Abreu was ejected.
“The umpires are there to calm the situation, keep the game moving, not let things get escalated,” Verlander said. “But more importantly they’re there just to determine if something was intentional or not. In that spot, I don’t know how those six guys got together and determined that they were sure it was intentional, because I think from a baseball perspective it surely was not.”
Crew chief James Hoye and the other five umpires worked to separate the players, then huddled and “decided that the pitch that Abreu threw was intentional on García,” said Hoye, who worked left field. García was ejected for “being the aggressor” and continuing to go after Maldonado, Hoye added. Baker was ejected for arguing Abreu’s ejection, then refused to leave the dugout until Astros bench coach Joe Espada convinced him to, according to Hoye. MLB senior vice president of on-field operations Michael Hill said the league will review the incident and determine potential suspensions “in a timely fashion.”
Rangers manager Bruce Bochy was peeved at how long it took to sort everything out, which he believes might have been part of the reason for Jose Leclerc not being sharp when he came back out for the ninth inning.
“The whole thing is a bunch of crap, to be honest, what happened there,” Bochy said. “Who knows what intensions are, but it’s not the first time it’s happened and couldn’t get the game going again. And I’m sure it affected him, because he came in to get an out there in the eighth inning. Maybe that played a part in it.”
Leclerc, who relieved Chapman with two outs in the eighth, gave up a leadoff single to pinch hitter Yainer Diaz and then walked pinch hitter Jon Singleton before serving up the three-run homer to Altuve on an 0-1 changeup low and in. Leclerc said the long delay was “no excuse. I need to execute my pitches and do a better job.”
Given what also took place in July, García was asked if it has become personal between him and Maldonado.
“I don’t have anything personal with anybody,” García said. “I’m just trying to play my game.”
ESPN’s Buster Olney contributed to this report.
It’s 2025 MLB All-Star Home Run Derby day in Atlanta!
Some of the most dynamic home run hitters in baseball will be taking aim at the Truist Park stands on Monday (8 p.m. ET on ESPN) in one of the most anticipated events of the summer.
While the prospect of a back-to-back champion is out of the picture — 2024 winner Teoscar Hernandez is not a part of this year’s field — a number of exciting stars will be taking the field, including Atlanta’s own Matt Olson, who replaced Ronald Acuna Jr. just three days before the event. Will Olson make a run in front of his home crowd? Will Cal Raleigh show off the power that led to 38 home runs in the first half? Or will one of the younger participants take the title?
We have your one-stop shop for everything Derby related, from predictions to live updates once we get underway to analysis and takeaways at the night’s end.
MLB Home Run Derby field
Cal Raleigh, Seattle Mariners (38 home runs in 2025)
James Wood, Washington Nationals (24)
Junior Caminero, Tampa Bay Rays (23)
Byron Buxton, Minnesota Twins (21)
Brent Rooker, Athletics (20)
Matt Olson, Atlanta Braves (17)
Jazz Chisholm Jr., New York Yankees (17)
Oneil Cruz, Pittsburgh Pirates (16)
Live updates
Who is going to win the Derby and who will be the runner-up?
Jeff Passan: Raleigh. His swing is perfect for the Derby: He leads MLB this season in both pull percentage and fly ball percentage, so it’s not as if he needs to recalibrate it to succeed. He has also become a prolific hitter from the right side this season — 16 home runs in 102 at-bats — and his ability to switch between right- and left-handed pitching offers a potential advantage. No switch-hitter (or catcher for that matter) has won a Home Run Derby. The Big Dumper is primed to be the first, beating Buxton in the finals.
Alden Gonzalez: Cruz. He might be wildly inconsistent at this point in his career, but he is perfect for the Derby — young enough to possess the stamina required for a taxing event that could become exhausting in the Atlanta heat; left-handed, in a ballpark where the ball carries out better to right field; and, most importantly, capable of hitting balls at incomprehensible velocities. Raleigh will put on a good show from both sides of the plate but will come in second.
Buster Olney: Olson. He is effectively pinch-hitting for Acuna, and because he received word in the past 72 hours of his participation, he hasn’t had the practice rounds that the other competitors have been going through. But he’s the only person in this group who has done the Derby before, which means he has experienced the accelerated pace, adrenaline and push of the crowd.
His pitcher, Eddie Perez, knows something about performing in a full stadium in Atlanta. And, as Olson acknowledged in a conversation Sunday, the park generally favors left-handed hitters because of the larger distances that right-handed hitters must cover in left field.
Jesse Rogers: Olson. Home-field advantage will mean something this year as hitting in 90-plus degree heat and humidity will be an extra challenge in Atlanta. Olson understands that and can pace himself accordingly. Plus, he was a late addition. He has got nothing to lose. He’ll outlast the young bucks in the field. And I’m not putting Raleigh any lower than second — his first half screams that he’ll be in the finals against Olson.
Jorge Castillo: Wood. His mammoth power isn’t disputed — he can jack baseballs to all fields. But the slight defect in his power package is that he doesn’t hit the ball in the air nearly as often as a typical slugger. Wood ranks 126th out of 155 qualified hitters across the majors in fly ball percentage. And he still has swatted 24 home runs this season. So, in an event where he’s going to do everything he can to lift baseballs, hitting fly balls won’t be an issue, and Wood is going to show off that gigantic power en route to a victory over Cruz in the finals.
Who will hit the longest home run of the night — and how far?
Passan: Cruz hits the ball harder than anyone in baseball history. He’s the choice here, at 493 feet.
Gonzalez: If you exclude the Coors Field version, there have been just six Statcast-era Derby home runs that have traveled 497-plus feet. They were compiled by two men: Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. James Wood — all 6-foot-7, 234 pounds of him — will become the third.
Olney: James Wood has the easy Stanton- and Judge-type power, and he will clear the Chophouse with the longest homer. Let’s say 497 feet.
Rogers: Hopefully he doesn’t injure himself doing it, but Buxton will break out his massive strength and crush a ball at least 505 feet. I don’t see him advancing far in the event, but for one swing, he’ll own the night.
Castillo: Cruz hits baseballs hard and far. He’ll crush a few bombs, and one will reach an even 500 feet.
Who is the one slugger fans will know much better after the Derby?
Passan: Buxton capped his first half with a cycle on Saturday, and he’ll carry that into the Derby, where he will remind the world why he was baseball’s No. 1 prospect in 2015. Buxton’s talent has never been in question, just his health. And with his body feeling right, he has the opportunity to put on a show fans won’t soon forget.
Olney: Caminero isn’t a big name and wasn’t a high-end prospect like Wood was earlier in his career. Just 3½ years ago, Caminero was dealt to the Rays by the Cleveland Guardians in a relatively minor November trade for pitcher Tobias Myers. But since then, he has refined his ability to cover inside pitches and is blossoming this year into a player with ridiculous power. He won’t win the Derby, but he’ll open some eyes.
What’s the one moment we’ll all be talking about long after this Derby ends?
Gonzalez: The incredible distances and velocities that will be reached, particularly by Wood, Cruz, Caminero, Raleigh and Buxton. The hot, humid weather at Truist Park will only aid the mind-blowing power that will be on display Monday night.
Rogers: The exhaustion on the hitter’s faces, swinging for home run after home run in the heat and humidity of Hot-lanta!
Castillo: Cruz’s 500-foot blast and a bunch of other lasers he hits in the first two rounds before running out of gas in the finals.
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