Robles clowns Bumgarner for enforcing unwritten rules originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
Home runs have been an infrequent occurrence for Victor Robles over the last few years. The Nationals outfielder has averaged one for every 100 trips he’s made to the plate since 2020, so he’s tried to enjoy them when he does get ahold of a pitch enough to send it over the wall.
The latest example came Saturday, when Robles took Diamondbacks starter Madison Bumgarner deep for a solo home run in the eighth inning of an eventual 7-2 Arizona win.
Victor Robles stole all the bases with this blast 💥 pic.twitter.com/omkZM68OzX
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) July 24, 2022
Robles took a few extra seconds to watch the ball fly, something the unwritten-rule-following Bumgarner shared his frustration with after the game.
“That guy is a clown.”
Madison Bumgarner didn’t appreciate Victor Robles admiring his home run while down big in the 8th. pic.twitter.com/wf0jMyUjcl
— Bally Sports Arizona (@BALLYSPORTSAZ) July 24, 2022
“That guy is a clown,” Bumgarner said. “Golly. No shame, no shame. It’s 7-1, you hit your third homer of the year [and] you act like Barry Bonds breaking the record. Clean it up. I don’t care about giving up the run — hell, we won 7-2, 8-2, whatever it was. It’s frustrating. I’m the old, grumpy guy, I know. But that type of stuff didn’t used to happen. Now, that’s ridiculous.”
Speaking through an interpreter, Robles told reporters including MASN’s Mark Zuckerman that Bumgarner “seems like he calls everybody a clown that actually has a big hit or home run against him.” The southpaw has called out opposing hitters such as Max Muncy and Yasiel Puig before, growing angry over how much emotion they displayed in the batter’s box.
So when Robles came out to the dugout for Sunday’s series finale, he took Bumgarner’s words to heart.
Victor Robles: not a mad bum. pic.twitter.com/Q6Nrar8L1k
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) July 24, 2022
TV announcers on both broadcasts enjoyed the bit, while NBA star LeBron James shared a photo on his Instagram story with the caption, “Something I would do for sure!” Even Baseball-Reference got in on the fun.
OMG! It’s REAL!!! https://t.co/bbT8An75of pic.twitter.com/uPOYZfHVfC
— Nationals on Reddit (@NatsOnReddit) July 25, 2022
One person who didn’t enjoy it, however, was Nationals manager Davey Martinez.
Martinez originally defended Robles, saying Saturday he had seen “way, way worse” than what Robles did and that he “didn’t do much to warrant that.” But he thought the clown nose was no laughing matter.
“I didn’t see it. I heard about it. I’ll talk to him…but yeah, that’s not who we are, right?” Martinez said in his postgame press conference Sunday, as quoted by MLB.com’s Jessica Camerato. “It happened. It’s done. I don’t want to see that kind of stuff.”
