Good afternoon from PNC Park where today the Pirates (8-11) start a four game series with the Cincinnati Reds (8-10). Francisco Liriano (0-3, 3.96 ERA) will look for his first win of the season against Mike Leake (2-1, 2.95 ERA).
Travis Snider on Yesterday’s Brawl
On how the confrontation started — “When I saw Carlos Gomez take his helmet off and push the umpire to the side acting like he’s going to physically do something to our pitcher who said something to him and walked away. That’s when i’m going to leave the bench and protect my teammates.”
On if Gomez exchanged words with him — ” No he did not. He took off his helmet and started swinging it at me.”
On Ricky Weeks pulling him back — “For me, what Weeks did, to be able to get me off of [Gomez], is being a good teammate. So, kudos to him to be able to stop what was going on, but as soon as someone takes their helmet off and physically acts like they’re going to do something to our players, as a teammate i’m going to go stand up for them.”
On when he found out who hit him — “When I saw the video. It was pretty clear. I didn’t know until I was off the field and had a chance to actually sit down and look at what happened. When you’re in the eye of the storm, it’s calm, but you’re leaving the bench, entering some kind of physical altercation and you got to expect to get hit and I did.”
On his injuries — “No concussion, no fractures, I got a nice shiner. I probably should be playing hockey looking like this, but at the end of the day, it’s part of the game. It’s not something we want to promote to the kids, we do not want to promote to the fans. That this is just a bunch of thugs out here throwing blows, but when push comes to shove, i’m going to be there for my teammates.”
On Gomez and Maldonado — “We all play the game hard. Carlos Gomez, for starters, is a fantastic baseball player. He’s fun to watch, except for when he’s doing it to our team and what he did was what he did, but when you talk about guys coming in and throwing cheap shots, that’s a line that get’s crossed.”
Other Notes
— Jared Hughes has been called up from AAA Indianapolis to replace Wandy Rodriguez, who has been placed on the 15-day DL. Hughes recorded a win, three saves and 0.00 ERA in five appearances with Indianapolis (6.0 IN/2 H/2 BB/7 K’s) this season.
— Starling Marte has been successful in each of his last stolen base attempts and enters tonight’s action tied for third among National League leadoff batters with 13 runs scored.
— The Pirates have gone 4-9 in a stretch that has them scheduled to play 20 games in 20 consecutive days leading up to their next day off on Monday, April 28.
Today’s Starting Lineups
First pitch is set for 7:05 and will be telecast on ESPN.
(Photo Credit: Joe Sargent/Getty Images)
