Benches emptied Sunday in San Francisco after Bronson Arroyo twice threw up and in on Giants pitcher Ryan Vogelsong, after he'd already hit Buster Posey with a ball up earlier in the game.
While tempers flared, cooler heads prevailed and int he end, Arroyo said it was all on him and that the Giants had a right to be upset. Arroyo talked to Vogelsong after the game to appollogize.
From MLB.com's Mark Sheldon, here's what Arroyo had to say:
"I was just missing my spots. He just got irritated. I played with Ryan for a long time. I called over there and told him he had every right to be irritated. I’ve got to get the ball down. Even if you’re going in, which I wasn’t, I was going away, you can’t get up near guys’ heads. I had already hit Buster up near his head as well. I told him it’s my fault. They’ve got all the right in the world to be irritated. I knew it wasn’t going to get out of hand because I think Ryan knows me well enough to know there wasn’t any malice in it. In the heat of battle, guys are obviously going to be frustrated and have allegiance to the ballclub and that’s the way it goes."
In his postgame comments, it appeared Vogelsong accepted his former teammate's apology and explanation. Again, from MLB.com:
"I know that he wasn’t trying to hit me, so let’s get that out of the way. Bronson and I are friends. We played together in Pittsburgh and we talk occasionally. So we’re friends, but when you’re on the field and you’re between the lines, you’re not friends any more. Ball’s coming up and in, it’s not a comfortable feeling, you don’t like it. I’m sure he wasn’t intentionally trying to hit Buster, either, but … you’re in the heat of battle and things happen like that and you get fired up."
The cameras caught Arroyo saying something to Vogelsong after his successful sacrifice bunt. Arroyo said he was taking the blame. Arroyo added, "there's just really no excuse for it to tell you the truth."
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