The Benches Cleared In A Minor League Baseball Game After A No-Hitter Was Broken Up By A Bunt

Baseball is known for three things: dingers, hot dogs and archaic “unwritten rule”s that shall not be broken under any circumstance. The latter of that holy triumvirate was the cause of a kerfuffle in a minor league baseball matchup between the Hartford Yard Goats and Trenton Thunder on Wednesday night, when the Yard Goats had a no-hitter broken up in the 9th inning by, gasp, a push-bunt.

There are a couple things to note here. First off, the Yard Goats were throwing a diet no-hitter, as four different pitchers had combined to shut out and no-hit the Thunder over eight innings. Second off, the Thunder were only down 3-0 and in desperate need of a base-runner to start any sort of rally.

So, with one out in the bottom of the ninth, the Thunder’s Matt Lipka strode to the plate and laid down a perfect push-bunt that dribbled down the first base line for a base hit, ending the no-no and breaking the unwritten rule that you should never use a bunt to break up a no-hitter.

The Yard Goats weren’t thrilled with Lipka’s bunt, and after securing the final two outs to win 3-0, the Goats had some unkind words for Lipka, which led to a clearing of the benches.

Here’s what Yard Goats starter Rico Garcia had to say about what happened:

“It is what it is,” said Garcia, who had started the game for Hartford and gone six. “[Lipka] was doing what he had to do. And we were really passionate about getting the no-hitter. It is what it is. I can’t really speak for what he was trying to do or what he was trying to accomplish. It’s unfortunate we couldn’t get the no-hitter. Emotions were high after.”

Is there anything more baseball than benches clearing because someone tried to bunt their way on base? No. No there there is not.