One Accidental Backswing Sparked Two Beanings And Four Ejections

Does this fall under one of baseball's unwritten rules, or were the Braves just grouchy while losing during Thursday's game against the Rockies?

In bottom of the eighth, Braves catcher Gerald Laird took one of Corey Dickerson's foul balls to his mask. He stumbled, but stayed in the game. Two pitches later, Dickerson's backswing hit Laird in the head. He fell facefirst into the dirt and left the game; Evan Gattis replaced him. (Laird passed concussion tests and will be fine.)

On the next pitch, Braves reliever David Carpenter tagged Dickerson in the thigh with a fastball. It looked pretty intentional, though Carpenter denied it, as did manager Fredi Gonzalez. But what was it for? Did anyone truly believe that Dickerson intentionally hit Laird on either of those instances? Carpenter was tossed, and Rockies manager Walt Weiss was also ejected for being generally livid. Weiss yelled, "We owe you two," according to Braves third baseman Chris Johnson.

Colorado only got one. With two outs in the top of the ninth, Rockies pitcher Nick Masset plunked Gattis on the first pitch of his plate appearance. Masset was quickly thrown out, along with Colorado's bench coach Tom Runnells.

So, to recap, two players were beaned and four people were ejected, and the catalyst was one hitter unintentionally smacking the opposing catcher with his follow-through. At least it provided some late-inning excitement for fans.