San Francisco Giants ace Madison Bumgarner struck out Chicago Cubs outfielder Jason Heyward on Thursday in the fourth inning with a nasty pitch that caught Heyward looking.
What came next had everyone watching the game scratching their heads.
Heyward appeared to say something to Bumgarner, but he was really looking past the pitcher to teammate Dexter Fowler, who was on second base. Heyward later said he was asking Fowler whether the pitch was a strike or not, but Bumgarner and catcher Buster Posey momentarily misunderstood and thought Heyward was talking to Bumgarner.
What came next had everyone watching the game scratching their heads.
Heyward appeared to say something to Bumgarner, but he was really looking past the pitcher to teammate Dexter Fowler, who was on second base. Heyward later said he was asking Fowler whether the pitch was a strike or not, but Bumgarner and catcher Buster Posey momentarily misunderstood and thought Heyward was talking to Bumgarner.
The umpire immediately positioned himself in front of Heyward as Bumgarner approached. The Giants quickly seemed to accept Heyward’s explanation and the situation ended, though the whole thing left the Giants under the impression the Cubs were trying to steal signs and had a miscommunication in doing so. Chicago went on to win 16-14.
"You might want to be a little more discreet about that if you want to do that kind of thing," Bumgarner told reporters after the game.
Heyward took responsibility for the confusion and insisted there was no attempt to steal signs.
"I think it was a misunderstanding," Heyward said. "[Bumgarner's] a gamer. He wants to go out there and be in every big spot for his team; he's shown that in the regular season and postseason. It's a misunderstanding. No tipping of the signs. I understand people would say, 'They wouldn't tell us anyways.' Believe it or not, that wasn't going on."
"You might want to be a little more discreet about that if you want to do that kind of thing," Bumgarner told reporters after the game.
Heyward took responsibility for the confusion and insisted there was no attempt to steal signs.
"I think it was a misunderstanding," Heyward said. "[Bumgarner's] a gamer. He wants to go out there and be in every big spot for his team; he's shown that in the regular season and postseason. It's a misunderstanding. No tipping of the signs. I understand people would say, 'They wouldn't tell us anyways.' Believe it or not, that wasn't going on."
It's not a great idea for Heyward to say anything in that situation, but particularly not in the direction of the pitcher, which could be easily misunderstood. Heyward and Fowler have been teammates for only a month and they'll probably come up with a better system for sharing information in the future in similar situations because of this.
Hey, that's what spring training is for, right? It's a good thing no one lost their cool and did anything stupid. If it had been a regular season game, that might not have been the case.
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