Pair of young SF Giants infielders feud over breakdown in communication on defense

The SF Giants won the game against the San Diego Padres on Sunday by a score of 7-6, but it was a lot closer than it needed to be. Tensions ran high between Marco Luciano and Tyler Fitzgerald after a breakdown in communication led to a feud in the dugout.

Pair of young SF Giants infielders feud over breakdown in communication on defense

The play took place in the seventh inning with two runners on and two outs. Jurickson Profar came to the plate and hit a popup to second base. In fact, Luciano barely had to move to get under the ball. Fitzgerald, who was playing up the middle, came over from shortstop and interfered with Luciano on the play.

Perhaps, the most frustrating part of the play was how the young infielders responded after the ball bounced off of Fiztgerald's glove. Neither one showed any type of hustle to recover the ball. The good thing is that Luis Matos was backing up the play from right field.

Two runs scored on that play and pulled the Padres unnecessarily close to striking distance. At the end of the inning, Luciano and Fitzgerald could be seen arguing with each other. Third base coach Matt Williams stepped in between them to de-escalate the situation and that was that. It was a minor disagreement:

In the very next inning, Luciano was replaced by Brett Wisely at second base. This was done to get a better defensive alignment in the field to preserve the lead. Both Mike Yastrzemski and Patrick Bailey entered the game as well.

The Giants did end up squeaking by with a victory. After the game, Luciano said he called for the ball, but Fitzgerald did not hear him. This is part of the development process, and hopefully, both players learn from this and do not let it happen again.

There were a lot of responses and reactions on social media to the disagreement between Fitzgerald and Luciano. I am not interested in assessing blame here. The play was definitively Luciano's to make. There is no doubt about that. Fitzgerald covers a lot of ground and it was a high pop up, so it was not too surprising to see him so close to the play.

I will say that this was a meaningless game in terms of the standings. With that being said, you have two young players who are hoping to have a future with the club. A little friction is not a bad thing and it is refreshing to see each play have some fire after a bad play. These things happen in baseball.

Too many times in recent years, the Giants have just looked flat after a bad play or a bad game. They put in a lot of effort, but sometimes, it has just been hard to see that energy. Being out of the playoff mix can lend itself to that. You need to have players who play with an edge. It was nice to see from both. That is my biggest takeaway from the disagreement. They care and that is a good thing.