Ray Montgomery sparks benches-clearing incident as Angels keep deflating Rangers

The red-hot Texas Rangers approached a crucial series before the MLB trade deadline against the Los Angeles Angels, with Jacob deGrom lined up to start against Jack Kochanowicz to kick it off. The Rangers had won six straight and 19 of their last 30, were tied for the final American League wild card spot and looked prime to buy before July 31st. However, it was their division rival and interim manager who have been hotter...in more ways than one.

Under Ron Washington, fans (and perhaps some of the players) were displeased when their manager would not move an inch after his players believed themselves to be wronged by an opponent or umpire. Montgomery is not that type of skipper -- his first ejection as a major league manager came the last time the Angels took on the Rangers in a series, when Mike Trout and he were livid over a strike three call. It turns out that was just the beginning of Montgomery causing an on-field disruption due to a perceived affront.

Ray Montgomery sparks benches-clearing incident as Angels keep deflating Rangers

In the bottom of the 8th inning on Tuesday, reliever Shawn Armstrong plunked Zach Neto and Trout in back-to-back plate appearances. It was the fourth time that an Angels player had been hit that game, in fact. As Angels athletic trainer Mike Frostad and the skipper went out to check on their Hall of Famer, Montgomery was gesturing and yelling in the direction of Rangers' manager Bruce Bochy. Bochy dropped some expletives right back at Montgomery, and assistant pitching coach Dave Bush was telling him to get lost (or something like that) with his words and lively hand gestures from the dugout. Members from both dugouts met face-to-face near the first base line, and the bullpen mob stormed the field.

Montgomery was not accusing the Rangers of plunking Neto twice, Luis Rengifo and Trout all on the hand/wrist area during the game, he simply was perturbed by their pitchers' inability to control the zone. He displayed his agitation by spouting off a few choice words towards their bench, causing Rangers coaches to exit the dugout and confront the interim manager as a result.

Both teams have not been playing pretty baseball against each other whatsoever, but the normally sure-handed Rangers defense have been making myriad mistakes while their pitching is getting lit up. The Angels are taking advantage, and playing their way into potentially adding pieces in the coming hours. The Halos are nearing .500 at the expense of Texas, and quite possibly getting Arte Moreno and Perry Minasian's hopes up.

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