Why Reds' pitcher was ejected for hitting Giants' Willy Adames with pitch after Spencer Steer NSFW controversy
· Yahoo Sports
Why Reds' pitcher was ejected for hitting Giants' Willy Adames with pitch after Spencer Steer NSFW controversy originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Cincinnati Reds and San Francisco Giants are having a bit of a feud to close out their series on Thursday.
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It all started Wednesday night with Spencer Steer and J.T. Brubaker, and it continued into Thursday with more from Steer and then some Connor Phillips and Willy Adames action.
It ended with Phillips ejected on Thursday, but there was more to it than that.
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What happened in Reds-Giants?
This started on Wednesday night. Steer was hitting against Brubaker, and after a late timeout was called at the play, Steer yelled out at Brubaker.
Cameras caught Steeler yelling, "F--- you. Throw the f---ing ball."
Nothing else seemed to happen immediately in Wednesday night's game, but in Steer's first at bat Thursday, Landon Roupp hit him with the first pitch.
Maybe, by baseball thinking, that made the sides even.
But by that same line of thinking, a Giants player hadn't gotten hit yet, just yelled at.
So in the eighth inning, Phillips hit Adames. You'd have to read minds to know intent for sure. But Phillips was ejected.
Adames didn't seem happy after being hit by this pitch 😬 pic.twitter.com/kMbAQQ3GII
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) April 16, 2026
The ejection was oddly not immediate, but only after the umpires talked for a few moments.
Reds manager Terry Francona wasn't happy about it. There hadn't seemed to be a warning issued after the early Steer HBP.
But the umps likely wanted to stop this from escalating further, and that's what they traded to do with the ejection.