Rob Biertempfel notices that Reds infielder Brandon Phillips has accused an unidentified player from the Pirates of making a racist remark during an argument between the two teams after Phillips was hit by a Jared Hughes pitch in the eighth inning.
↵↵↵After the game, Phillips posted this on Twitter: "#RealTalk… Not really surprised by what I heard come outta another player’s mouth tonite but DAMN… Still PISSED bout that $h¡+!! #Racism"
↵I spoke by phone with someone with the Pirates shortly after Phillips tweet was posted (around 2 a.m.) and I was told the club is aware of tweet. In the clubhouse after the game, I asked Hughes what words he and others and Phillips exchanged on field. "I don’t know," Hughes said. "It was so loud out there, I couldn’t hear."
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If anyone on the Pirates said something racist, that would be awful, but we'll probably never know what happened there. It was a chaotic scene, so it's also possible that Phillips mis-heard or misinterpreted something. In any case, the relationship between the Pirates and Reds -- already strained after Aroldis Chapman hit Andrew McCutchen with a pitch earlier this season -- may be about to get uglier.
↵UPDATE: Phillips thought Hughes called him "boy," which can be used as a racial slur. The two have discussed it, and the matter apparently is resolved. Phillips calls it a "misunderstanding."
↵For more on the Pirates, check out Bucs Dugout. For more on the Reds, there's Red Reporter.