Seldom can anyone decisively say who won or lost a bench-clearing brawl on a baseball diamond.

Usually, such brawls resemble a middle school dance more than a pitched battle, though that was certainly not the case when the Toros de Tijuana and Acereros de Monclova met in the infield to settle their differences after Tijuana’s Danry Vasquez punched Monclova third baseman Rodolfo Amador in the face following a tag during a rundown in Sunday’s 5-3 Monclova win.

And while there weren’t really any winners from Sunday night’s main event, there were losers, the biggest of which is Danry Vasquez, who has played in the LMB since 2019 and was batting .354/.421/.519 for Tijuana until he was suspended indefinitely in the wake of the brawl, which he touched off by knocking Amador to the ground with a punch and then kicking him in the ribs while he was on the ground.

A video of the confrontation taken from the first base side of Toros Mobil Park showed Amador tagging Vasquez with the ball in his glove on his left hand, then raising his elbow to stop Vasquez. The new video has been used to argue that Amador, perhaps, should have been sanctioned by the LMB for raising his elbow.

Amador, who was uninjured, spoke to Santiago May of Cuarto Bat, a Mexican baseball website, about the fracas.

Vasquez, he said, “didn’t connect me with strength, but he connected me with… Not exactly with his fist. I never saw the blow coming, because I didn’t come in with the intention of hurting him. It was a big game for us, we had to win that game to clinch a playoff berth, so there was a lot of adrenaline. I tried to get him out of the way. I could’ve been a little aggressive tagging him, but I never hit him with my elbow.”

It’s a real stretch to say that Amador caused the problem here. When Vasquez stopped in front of him, it looks as though Amador raised his right forearm somewhat instinctively as a defensive measure as the two were about to collide. It’s then that Vasquez hits Amador, first with a left-handed jab and then with a wild right that knocked the Monclova third baseman to the ground but luckily didn’t do much real damage.

“I didn’t intend to hurt him, and honestly, it’s sad. I don’t think even winning a fight is a good thing,” Amador said to Cuarto Bat. “He never gave me any indication that he wanted to fight; I think it was a bit cowardly of him not to let me know he wanted to fight me. Like I said, it was a pretty hard blow—I definitely felt it—but thank God he didn’t hit me with his fist. Given how relaxed I was and the fact that I didn’t see it coming, he could have done a lot more damage.

At this point, Vasquez’ history is relatively well-known. He was caught on video pushing his girlfriend down the stairs at Whataburger Park in Corpus Christi, Texas, the home of the Houston Astros’ Double-A affiliate, in 2016. He was arrested and charged with assault causing bodily injury of a family member, and the Astros released him in August 2016. He hasn’t returned to affiliated baseball and barring a miracle, never will.

If the incident in Sunday’s game against Monclova didn’t end Vasquez’s career in the LMB, it has, at minimum, ended his season, and while Vasquez might not be the best player or even a key player for the Toros, his .940 OPS in 34 games signalled he could potentially play a big role in the playoffs.

Unfortunately for Monclova, they’ve lost Ryan Hernandez for a while. Hernandez, who had been serving as the designated hitter for Monclova, took out Vasquez from behind with a clothesline near the pitcher’s mound as the benches emptied. Not only was Hernandez suspended for six games and fined, he suffered a broken arm delivering the blow.

It’s a big loss for Monclova, which brought the corner infielder and power hitter down a little more than a month ago after he was having a career year at the plate for the Lake Country Dockhounds in the American Association, where he had 14 homers and 44 RBIs in 32 games. With the Acereros, he had eight homers and 17 RBIs in 27 games, but now will miss time due to the injury and then will have to sit for six games when he returns, which may not be until the 2027 season.

“I feel sad for my teammate Ryan, who got hurt,” Amador told Cuarto Bat. “That is, first and foremost, what saddens me the most.”

Screenshot: Danry Vasquez of the Toros de Tijuana brutally kicks Rodolfo Amador of the Acereros de Monclova after Amador tagged him out in a rundown. (Screenshot via BeisbolPuro on X)