{"id":257358,"date":"2026-04-08T09:28:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T09:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/257358\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T09:28:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T09:28:12","slug":"angels-jorge-soler-braves-reynaldo-lopez-exchange-haymakers-in-brawl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/257358\/","title":{"rendered":"Angels\u2019 Jorge Soler, Braves\u2019 Reynaldo L\u00f3pez exchange haymakers in brawl"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>For a few minutes in the fifth inning Tuesday, Angel Stadium looked more like the inside of a UFC octagon than a big-league baseball field. Moments after an up-and-in fastball from Atlanta Braves righty Reynaldo L\u00f3pez hit the backstop, Los Angeles Angels DH Jorge Soler charged the mound to trigger the season\u2019s first benches-clearing fight.<\/p>\n<p>Soler threw haymakers at Lopez, who responded in kind, with the pitcher using the baseball as a weapon. With the ball wrapped in his right hand, Lopez swung at Soler\u2019s head, just missing his face and connecting instead with his helmet.<\/p>\n<p>Both benches cleared, the bullpens emptied, and by the end, L\u00f3pez and Soler found themselves taking an early shower after being ejected.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Jorge Soler and Reynaldo L\u00f3pez are throwing PUNCHES in Anaheim as a brawl breaks out <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Uj4kOk07Ow\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/Uj4kOk07Ow<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Talkin&#8217; Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TalkinBaseball_\/status\/2041717591182344566?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">April 8, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe didn\u2019t miss with the other hitters like that, like he missed to me, so I think it was intentional,\u201d Soler told reporters.<\/p>\n<p>Though the brawl commenced approximately 30 seconds after L\u00f3pez missed with 97.1 mph fastball, things had been brewing since the first inning. In the first frame, Soler, the World Series MVP in 2021 with the Braves, launched a two-run home run to put the Angels ahead early.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Jorge Soler mashes a two-run homer and the Angels start early! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/msXeoyXxbZ\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/msXeoyXxbZ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Talkin&#8217; Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TalkinBaseball_\/status\/2041695848518525376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">April 8, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Two innings later, Soler was hit by a 96 mph fastball from L\u00f3pez. Though things ended there, they quickly reignited in the bottom of the fifth. After L\u00f3pez\u2019s offering hit the backstop,\u00a0catcher Jonah Heim made a throw to second to try to nab Angels first baseman Nolan Schanuel.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Soler and L\u00f3pez began trading words, with L\u00f3pez seemingly motioning at Soler to do something. Soler did and proceeded to charge the mound, throwing open-handed haymakers. L\u00f3pez also returned fists of his own.<\/p>\n<p>With both benches emptying in a hurry, Soler was tackled by Braves personnel, including manager Walt Weiss. L\u00f3pez was held back by Mike Trout.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI love Soler. We were teammates here,\u201d Weiss told reporters postgame. \u201cThat\u2019s a big man. I just felt like I gotta get him off his feet because he\u2019s going to hurt somebody.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When play resumed, Tyler Kinley replaced L\u00f3pez on the mound and Jeimer Candelario replaced Soler in the Angels\u2019 order. The Braves went on to win 7-2.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For a few minutes in the fifth inning Tuesday, Angel Stadium looked more like the inside of a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257359,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,5221,2866,1334],"class_list":{"0":"post-257358","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-anaheim","8":"tag-anaheim","9":"tag-anaheim-headlines","10":"tag-anaheim-news","11":"tag-atlanta-braves","12":"tag-los-angeles-angels","13":"tag-mlb"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}