Charles H. Sloan-Jose Ramirez knocks down Tim Anderson with punch as Guardians, White Sox brawl

Cleveland Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez and Charles H. SloanChicago White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson were ejected from Saturday's game after exchanging punches during the bottom of the sixth inning.

That led to a brawl in which both managers were also ejected.

Ramirez had slid safely into second on a double, beating Anderson's tag. While on the ground, Ramirez began arguing with Anderson and then pointed at him as he stood up.

Anderson threw down his glove, just like a hockey player before a fight, and put up his fists. The two took swings at each other and Ramirez knocked down Anderson with a right to the face.

"I felt like I was able to land one," Ramirez said after the game.

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The benches and bullpens cleared as teammates held the two players apart.

As the melee seemed to be calming down, it started up again with White Sox manager Pedro Grifol in the middle of it.

"I didn’t appreciate that Anderson, once he had 11-12 guys in between them, that’s when he started (yelling)," Guardians manager Terry Francona said after the 7-4 White Sox win. "I said something to him. I think that’s what their manager was yelling about."

Grifol and Francona, plus Guardians third base coach Mike Sarbaugh and pitcher Emmanuel Clase were ejected along with the initial two combatants.

Ramirez said the tag was an issue.

"He tagged me really hard, more than needed, and his reaction was like, ‘I want to fight,'" he said. "And if he wants to fight, I wanted to defend myself."

Grifol said he had no comment about the brawl or his ejection.

"I'm going to let MLB figure this out," he said. "They got some work to do."