A funny thing happened at Turner Field on Thursday afternoon when an umpire averted a near brawl by "taking out" would-be participant Matt Kemp, who had erupted after getting plunked by Braves starting pitcher Julio Teheran in the first inning.
Check out the full scene in the video above or, if you're in more of a drive-by mood, here's the money shot:
OK, so Kemp probably slipped and fell as much as anything as he tried to sidestep and presumably get closer to Teheran. The ground was wet after a rain storm in the Atlanta area and the umpire appeared to just be trying to restrain Kemp from escalating the situation.
And that's not just any umpire. That's Jordan Baker -- the tallest ump in MLB at 6-foot-7 who weighs about 240 pounds. A tough one to sidestep successfully. At 33, he's also only three years older than Kemp.
No punches were thrown and no one was ejected as a result of that incident, but Padres manager Bud Black was later tossed in the 10th inning for arguing with Baker and another umpire. The Padres won 6-4 in 11 innings.
Kemp certainly seemed to be in good spirits afterward.
"That was a good game, wasn't it?" Kemp said.
Teheran insisted he wasn't throwing at Kemp.
"You don't want nobody to get hit like he was, especially with two strikes," Teheran said. "I was trying to throw the same pitch that I threw before and he was swinging. He got upset, but it's part of the game."
Incidentally, just today we posted about the most dangerous members of an MLB basebrawl. We may need to re-open the file and make room for Jordan "YOU SHALL NOT BRAWL" Baker.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
