SF Giants intentionally drill Spencer Steer, Reds retaliate, benches clear (eventually)

In Wednesday night's game between the SF Giants and Cincinnati Reds, the most interesting thing for Giants fans to watch was when pitcher JT Brubaker got into it with home plate umpire Quinn Wilcott for granting a timeout to Reds hitter Spencer Steer as Brubaker was starting his motion.

Brubaker was clearly ticked off and when things settled down and Brubaker got back on the mound, Steer pretty clearly had some NSFW words for Brubaker after the pitcher allowed the pitch clock to wind all the way down.

It was a heated moment as Steer said, "[Expletive] you. Throw the [expletive] ball." His colorful language paid off as he ended up singling in that at-bat.

Then, on Thursday Giants starter Landen Roupp drilled Steer with a first-pitch fastball in his first at-bat of the game. It seems like pretty clear retaliation for what happened on Wednesday so it will be interesting to see if things escalate even further on getaway day.

UPDATE: Things indeed did escalate later in the game as Reds pitcher Connor Phillips hit Willy Adames in the eighth inning and was ejected from the game.

DOUBLE UPDATE: On the last pitch of the game with Erik Miller striking out Sal Stewart, the benches cleared as Stewart took exception to Miller's reaction. The Giants won 3-0. The rest of this article was written after Roupp hitting Steer but before the Adames and Miller incidents.

SF Giants retaliated against Reds for Wednesday incident, Reds return favor

Manager Tony Vitello was seen yelling at a different umpire during Thursday's game so maybe getting mad at umpires can help spark something.

Perhaps these moments can serve as some sort of catalyst for the Giants. The team just looks lethargic to start this season so maybe they need something like that to get the blood flowing and the competitive juices stirring.

This is also not the first lip-reading moment the Giants have been involved with this season. Up to this point, most of the team's lip-reading moments have stemmed from things that Giants players or coaches have said.

Matt Chapman infamously told Casey Schmitt to catch the ball in San Diego earlier in the season and manager Tony Vitello was caught getting visibly annoyed with an older ball dude at Oracle Park.

Lip-reading is a part of baseball for sure. Giants legend Will Clark claims that he read Greg Maddux's lips back in 1989 when he took the Chicago Cubs pitcher deep in the NLCS. Some huge baseball accounts are predicated almost entirely on lip-reading.

Maybe guys need to start covering their mouths more or maybe they could just stop cussing at their teammates or opponents, but it's baseball so that doesn't seem likely to cease anytime soon.

We will have to see if there's any more retaliation in Thursday's game or if any of this will carry over to August when the Reds will visit Oracle Park.

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