Dodgers Triple-A affiliate involved in bench-clearing brawl

An already crazy week for the Los Angeles Dodgers organization got even crazier on Saturday when their Triple-A affiliate, the Albuquerque Isotopes, got involved in a bench-clearing brawl with the Memphis Redbirds, Triple-A affiliate for the St. Louis Cardinals.

According to Josh Jackson of MiLB.com, both teams had been warned in the third inning when Cardinals prospect Maikel Cleto hit Jeremy Moore after the batter requested (but was not granted) a late timeout. Both benches emptied at that point but it did not escalate beyond heated words.

Now, fast forwarding to the following inning, Moore came up again and this time connected for a three-run homer off relief pitcher Jorge Rondon. The next Isotopes hitter was Justin Sellers, whom we've seen with the Dodgers in the past. On a 1-0 pitch, it appeared like Sellers was nicked by Rondon's pitch, though the umpires said otherwise. As a result of the pitch location, both benches cleared again, only this time with punches thrown and players wrestling each other to the ground.

You can view the actual game footage of the brawl by clicking here.

In total, eight players were ejected, including Mitchell Boggs for the Redbirds and Dee Gordon for the Isotopes, along with both managers.

Like the Dodgers brawl with the Arizona Diamondbacks earlier in the week, multiple suspensions are likely, but no injuries have been reported. That's the good news, but I'm sure there are many people within the Dodgers organization wondering if there might be better ways to start resolving these on field issues than emptying the benches and putting their players at risk. Three major incidents in under three months is not a pace you want to keep.

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