Guardians' Jose Ramirez Discusses Cause of Fight With White Sox's Tim Anderson

A massive brawl broke out in Cleveland on Saturday stemming from an altercation between Guardians third baseman José Ramírez and Chicago White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson. Ramírez slid into second on a double, Anderson applied a tag and the two squared up after an initial face-off. Eventually, Ramírez dropped Anderson with a right hand, leading to chaos.

After the Guardians' 7-4 loss, a reporter asked Ramírez what happened, and he said this through his interpreter.

"I think he's been disrespecting the game for a while. It's not from just today or from before, and I even had the chance to tell him during the game, 'Don't do this stuff, just stay respectful, don't start tagging people like that.'

"Because in reality, we are here trying to find ways how to provide for our families. And when he does a thing like he does on the bases, you can get somebody out of the game, so for me, I was telling him to stop doing that, and then as soon as the play happened, he tagged me again really hard more than needed, and then he just had reactions like I want to fight. And if you wanted to fight, I just have to defend myself."

The night before, Anderson notably pushed Guardians rookie Brayan Rocchio's hand off the bag to tag him out at second base. Rocchio initially was called safe, but a replay review led to an out call.

The chaos at second base continued on Saturday, and it led to six ejections: Anderson, Ramírez, both managers (Chicago's Pedro Grifol and Cleveland's Terry Francona), Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase and Cleveland third base coach Mike Sarbaugh.

The series between the two teams will close Sunday at 12:05 p.m. ET.