Albuquerque Isotopes teammates Alex Guerrero and Miguel Olivo got into a brawl during their game against Triple-A Salt Lake Tuesday, where according to reports, Olivo bit off part of Guerrero’s ear.
Albuquerque’s Alex Guerrero needed surgery on left ear after getting attacked by Miguel Olivo: http://t.co/X8mMe2vQcO pic.twitter.com/NlMNkpmaXg
— MiLB.com (@MiLB) May 20, 2014
From one sports writer who was there:
Salt Lake-Albuquerque game delayed briefly in the 8th inning. Fight between Isotope teammates seems to have broken out in the dugout.
— Steve Luhm (@sluhm) May 20, 2014
And Jon Morosi of Fox Sports:
Part of Alex Guerrero’s ear was “displaced by a bite” during altercation with Miguel Olivo, according to Guerrero’s agent, Scott Boras.
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) May 20, 2014
Alex Guerrero is having plastic surgery on his ear right now, Scott Boras said.
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) May 20, 2014
Police have gathered evidence about the incident and collected witness statements, according to Boras.
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) May 20, 2014
Guerrero’s recovery timetable is uncertain, Boras said; not clear yet how many stitches the surgery will require.
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) May 20, 2014
According to this Salt Lake blog, the altercation blew up in the dugout after Olivo was frustrated about no one covering base runners.
The Isotopes defense had their struggles against our base runners. If I were managing my Comp team I would call it laziness…. The Bees advanced runners multiple times because after plays were seemingly over, Isotopes players would wander away from their base and our Bees runners would advance with very little opposition.
A couple times the runners advanced with the ball in C Miguel Olivo’s hand. I got the feeling he was upset that no one was talking to let him know there was a runner, and when they DID scream “runner!”, no one was at the bag to cover a play. …. That is certainly a cluster of plays that got under the skin of Olivo.
After the Isotopes half of the inning started, Guerrero was walking the length of the dugout towards the clubhouse/bat-rack and SOMEONE sucker punched him as he was walking passed. From the photos it seems that Miguel Olivo is very much involved.
Here is Olivo lunging at Guerrero during a pitching change before the incident:
Guerrero is a 27-year-old recent Cuban defect second baseman who is tearing up Triple-A pitchers, batting .368 with 10 homers for the Isotopes. Olivo is a 35-year-old catcher who has been a Major Leaguer for most of 13 seasons who has 145 career big-league home runs.
According to the blog, it was Kids day at Smith Ballpark, with the main message being anti-drugs and anti-bullying.
Photo Credit: Getty
