Braves - Reds with a good brawl in 1987
Believe it or not, on June 20 in 1987 the Braves were still competitive. They were 33-33 coming into the game with the Cincinnati Reds. It was Doyle Alexander for the Braves and Bill Gullickson for the Reds, two veteran right-handed pitchers.
The Reds got on the board first when leadoff man Kal Daniels hit his 16 home run of the season. The next batter was Tracy Jones, who hit his eighth home run of the season to give the Reds a 2-0 lead.
Then, in the top of the second inning, shortstop Kurt Stillwell hit his third home run of the season with a runner aboard. The Reds were up 4-0.
The Braves then bounced back. Bruce Benedict hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the second. An inning later, Gerald Perry doubled home Dion James to make it 4-3. Dale Murphy then hit a three-run home run to give the Braves a 6-4 lead. Ken Griffey, Sr. followed that with a solo shot, his 10 of the season. Atlanta had bounced back to take a 7-4 lead.
And then, Andres Thomas came to the plate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jgtTG4LH4Q
What followed was a pretty good brawl, and you have to give Gullickson credit for believing he could tackle Thomas, who likely weighed about 150 pounds.
Gullickson got ejected. So was Thomas.
The Braves won that day to get over the .500 mark with a 34-33 record. The brawl must not have motivated the Braves, who turned around and lost six games in a row and went 3-12 in their next 15 games.
Same ole Braves. But at least the fight was good.