Benches cleared when the Blue Jays hit Kevin Kiermaier with a pitch over the scouting-card controversy

The series between the Tampa Bay Rays and Toronto Blue Jays was dominated by one of the weirder controversies we’ve seen all season. And Wednesday’s finale brought forth the most predictable result:

A plunking.

The whole saga started on Monday when Rays outfielder Kevin Kiermaier picked up and kept a scouting card that was dropped by Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk during a play at the plate. The card evidently had the Blue Jays’ entire pitching game plan on it, and Kiermaier’s open willingness to take it (and keep it) had the entire Blue Jays roster upset.

So, while Tuesday’s game went forward without any fireworks, it was a different story on Wednesday when Kiermaier stepped to the plate in the eighth inning of a lopsided game.

Ryan Borucki hits Kevin Kiermaier in the back with a pitch in the 8th inning pic.twitter.com/cd8yC056OQ

— Tim and Friends (@timandfriends) September 22, 2021

On the first pitch of the at-bat, Blue Jays pitcher Ryan Borucki hit Kiermaier in the back with a 93 mph sinker. Kiermaier — clearly thinking it was intentional — had words for Borucki as he made his way to first base. Benches would also clear as a livid Kevin Cash came out to argue for Borucki to get tossed (which he did).

All this over a piece of paper. Baseball can be weird like that.

Of course, Kiermaier’s refusal to return the scouting card or his dubious claim that he didn’t realize what it was didn’t diffuse tensions with the Blue Jays. But it was pretty lame to wait two days and pick a spot like that to throw at someone — though Borucki denied that it was intentional.

Should Kiermaier have returned the card? I mean, it would have been the right thing to do. But it shouldn’t have drawn out into a multi-day controversy.

Thankfully, both teams can move on from it given that this was the last meeting between the Blue Jays and Rays this regular season. And there’s no way this will come back and be a thing in a potential postseason meeting, right? RIGHT?!

I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.