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THE DETROIT TIGERS were hosting the New York Yankees in what was by all accounts a fairly normal baseball game last night.

Then, in the sixth inning, Miguel Cabrera stepped up to the plate.

Earlier in the game Gary Sanchez was hit with a ball from Tigers pitcher Michael Fulmer. In retaliation, Yankees pitcher Tommy Kahnle threw a ball behind Cabrera and was promptly ejeced from the game, along with manager Joe Girardi after he came out to argue the call.

As Cabrera resettled at the plate, words were exchanged between he and Yankees catcher Austin Romine. Romine ripped his mask off as the two jawed back and forth, and Cabrera pushed him and threw a couple jabs. Romine then attempted to get Cabrera down to the ground as the benches and bullpens cleared to form one of the largest baseball fights yin recent memory.

Both Cabrera and Romine were ejected from the game. In the top of the seventh, the Yankees would tie the game at 6-6 with help from Brett Gardner, Aaron Hicks, and Gary Sanchez.

In the bottom half of the inning, Yankees reliever Dellin Betances hit Tigers catcher James McCann in the head with a fastball. Betances and Yankees acting manager Rob Thomson would be ejected, and in something of a karmic turn, the Tigers would retake the lead 9-6 after Jose Iglesias hit a bases loaded double.

But the retaliation was not done yet, as Tigers reliever Alex Wilson would plunk Todd Frazier in the top of the eighth inning, leading to his ejection along with Tigers manager Brad Ausmus, bringing the grand total of ejections in the game to eight.

In another bit of karmic retribution, James McCann, who had been clocked in the head with a fastball just an inning earlier, hit a solo blast out of the park in his next plate appearance, giving the Tigers a 10-6 lead that they would hold onto until the game went final.

The Yankees and Tigers won’t meet again until next season, but if things get chippy on the field between them in 2018, this game is likely the reason why.

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