Coco Crisp charged the mound after James Shields threw at Coco, and Crisp avoided a powerful right hand from Shields that would have gotten approval from Muhammad Ali himself and got in a punch before Shields, Dioner Navarro and others overwhelmed Crisp and slammed him to the ground, raining punches on him.
Crisp and Shields were immediately ejected. This comes on the heels of a game last night where in the fourth inning, Coco stole second but shortstop Jason Bartlett blocked the bag with his knee, which sprained Coco’s finger. Later in the game, Coco took out Akinori Iwamura on a force play for revenge.
It’s 4-1 Boston in the bottom second. Manny hit a three-run bomb to kick the game off before the melee in the second. Chris Carter replaced Coco, with Jacoby Ellsbury shifting to center and Carter in left. It is Carter’s major league debut. He pinch-ran for Coco and scored his first major league run without getting an at-bat.
***UPDATE*** Jacoby Ellsbury made a sensational catch but caught his wrist on the ground, so he’s coming out of the game. J.D. Drew is moving to centerfield and Kevin Youkilis will head to right.