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Tommy Pham Ripped Fans on Social Media After Sparking Benches-Clearing Incident

Ryan Phillips

Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Tommy Pham and Toronto Blue Jays catcher Tyler Heineman argue at home plate.
Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Tommy Pham and Toronto Blue Jays catcher Tyler Heineman argue at home plate. / Via Jomboy on
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Tommy Pham was on one Monday night.

During the Pittsburgh Pirates' 5-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays, the veteran outfielder set off a benches-clearing fracas, then decided to attack fans on social media.

The incident came with the Pirates leading 3-2 in the bottom of the seventh inning. Pham took a pitch from Brendon Little for ball four, then tossed his bat and began to jog to first. After a few steps he turned around and got into Blue Jays catcher Tyler Heineman's face, causing the benches empty as players raced onto the field.

Video is below.

This seemed to come out of nowhere, and Heineman agreed. After the game he claimed he didn't say a word to Pham, and said, "You're probably just as confused as I am" about the incident. He added, "It was weird man. It was weird. It was unprovoked and super weird."

That pretty much describes most of Pham's career to this point.

Pham responded to that report on X (formely Twitter) with the following:

That's when things escalated.

Tweets began pouring in responding to Pham's tantrum and he replied to a lot of them.

Another user on the site captured some screenshots.

Pham, of course, is known for slapping Joc Pederson over a fantasy football dispute back in 2022. So this is right in line with that history.

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Ryan Phillips
RYAN PHILLIPS

Ryan Phillips is a senior writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has worked in digital media since 2009, spending eight years at The Big Lead before joining SI in 2024. Phillips also co-hosts The Assembly Call Podcast about Indiana Hoosiers basketball and previously worked at Bleacher Report. He is a proud San Diego native and a graduate of Indiana University’s journalism program.

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