The Padres and Giants nearly got into a fight over chewing gum … again

Stop me if you think that you’ve heard this one before. The San Diego Padres and the San Francisco Giants nearly came to blows Tuesday night. It all started due to a piece of chewing gum.

That’s right, for the second time this season, a piece of chewing gum nearly caused a fight between the same teams.

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The first time around, the Giants were accused of improper gum placement. This time, the Padres were at fault. 

Following Hector Sanchez’s sixth inning grand slam, Padres pitcher Dale Thayer took gum out of his mouth and threw it in Sanchez’s direction. If Sanchez noticed at the time, he just ignored it. The situation didn’t escalate until the ninth inning.

With Shawn Kelley on the mound this time, Sanchez stepped to the plate in the top of the ninth. Two balls were thrown pretty far inside during the at-bat, though Sanchez wasn’t hit by a pitch. After grounding out to first, Sanchez had a few words with Kelley as he was jogging back to the dugout.

The umpires quickly intervened, but that didn’t stop the benches from clearing. Eventually, both bullpens emptied. Both Sanchez and Kelley seemed pretty upset during the commotion, but no punches were thrown. 

There were no ejections following the near-brawl. Kelley was allowed to finish the inning, and Sanchez came out behind the plate for the bottom of the ninth.

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The Giants would get the final laugh, as the team won the contest 9-3. A big part of that was Sanchez’s grand slam, which spurred the entire gum incident. 

The next time these two teams face off, they might want to consider either leaving their gum in the clubhouse. Or just keeping it in their mouths. 

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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik