The Chicago Cubs and Washington Nationals had two bench-clearing incidents in Thursday's series finale, the first of which started when Cubs bench coach Jamie Quirk yelled at Nationals third base coach Bo Porter for what he perceived to be overly aggressive baserunning with the Nats leading 5-0 in the fifth inning.
Cubs manager Dale Sveum, though, wasn't upset with the Nationals according to ESPN Chicago's Doug Padilla:
"I didn’t have any problem with it," Sveum said of the Nationals’ play. "It was the fifth inning. It was as if they were up 5-0 in the fifth inning. I don’t expect my team to stop playing in the fifth inning. There is a time when you stop. I mean a five-run lead, to me, I didn’t have any problem with anything they did."
So was Quirk out of line?
"You have to talk to Jamie about that," Quirk said. "But me personally I don’t want my guys to stop playing at that time."
Padilla said Quirk has been unavailable to comment on the incident the past two days.
For more on this series, check out Cubs blog Bleed Cubbie Blue and Washington Nationals blog Federal Baseball. Follow Baseball Nation for all your up-to-date MLB news and analysis.