Any thoughts of revenge against Tommy Pham will have to wait for the Toronto Blue Jays.
After causing the benches to clear in Monday's series opener, Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Tommy Pham will not be in the starting lineup on Tuesday.
In Monday's heated game that saw Blue Jays manager John Schneider tossed in the fifth inning, tempers continued to boil over into the bottom of the seventh after Pham flipped his bat on a four-pitch walk issued by Blue Jays left-hander Brandon Little.
Before continuing down the line, Pham turned back and approached catcher Tyler Heineman, causing the benches to spill onto the field.
Cooler heads prevailed after Blue Jays veteran George Springer was seen escorting Pham away from the commotion.
Heineman told Sportsnet's Arden Zwelling post-game that he didn't say anything to Pham and that Pham didn't say anything to him.
"It was weird, man. It was weird. Unprovoked and super weird," Heineman said.
Schneider also weighed in on the incident after the game, saying, “I’m not worried about Tommy Pham’s opinion about anything, really. I’m worried about our defence. I’m worried about our at-bats."
The back and forth didn't stop there, however, as Pham took to X in the aftermath of what ended up a 5-2 Pirates win to share his side of the story.
"(Complaining) about a ball not being called a strike to the umpire when it’s clearly below the zone and away is disrespectful not only to the umpire but the hitter as well," Pham wrote in a reply to a post sharing Heineman's comments from MLB.com's Keegan Matheson. "So like I said when I flipped the bat (expletive) him ... dude has two years in the show I know the zone."
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Matheson stopped by the Pirates' clubhouse on Tuesday to speak with Pham, but the outfielder didn't want to talk any further about his social media posts.
But Pham did tell Matheson to pass on one message: “Let them know I speak in facts.”
Pham has long been one of MLB's most controversial figures. Earlier this season, he was suspended one game for conduct directed at a Los Angeles Angels fan. The veteran outfielder was also suspended three games in 2022 while a member of the Cincinnati Reds for slapping Joc Pederson over a fantasy football dispute.
