Yasiel Puig attempts to fight entire Pirates team, becomes Reds hero

If Reds fans didn’t love Yasiel Puig already, Sunday’s matinee in Pittsburgh probably won them over.

In a fracas that began with Derek Dietrich admiring his mammoth second inning home run, and continued with Chris Archer throwing behind him in his next at-bat, it was Puig who became a star in Cincinnati by rushing out of the dugout and attempting to fight all of Pittsburgh by himself.

Just look at the beautiful image the bench-clearing dust-up gave us:

Reds manager David Bell, Puig, Amir Garrett, Keone Kela and Felipe Vázquez were all ejected when the dust cleared, because, of course.

Only Puig could top a moment like the one Dietrich had when he sent a home run soaring into the Allegheny River. It wasn’t enough that Dietrich completely demolished this baseball, but he may have broken Archer’s spirit by standing in the batters box and taking a nice long look at where it landed.

Sometimes you just have to tip your cap to a batter. Especially when it’s early in the season, kinks are still being worked out and pitchers aren’t hitting all of their spots.

The only odd thing here is Archer’s reaction. Of all people to negatively respond to a player showing emotion on the field, you’d think the pitcher known for dancing on the mound and pumping himself up after strikeouts would just let it go.

The Pirates even tweeted out a video of Archer’s antics using MLB’s “let the kids play” tagline before the game.

Pittsburgh may love it, but Cincinnati will definitely take Puig every time after Sunday’s incident. And, sure, this is where things should’ve ended, but this is baseball, and things that happen in April don’t just die down. The back-and-forth continued on. First, with Dietrich launching his second home run of the day into the Allegheny, then with the Pirates Twitter account sending out some shade after Pittsburgh’s 7-5 victory.

The Pirates visit Cincinnati next on May 27 for a four-game set. You’ll want to strap in for that series.

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Blake Schuster is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at blakeschuster@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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