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Bautista weighs in on Utley drama with cryptic tweet

Ronald Martinez / Getty Images Sport / Getty

Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Jose Bautista offered a sarcastic take on Saturday's drama at Citi Field with a tweet that appears to compare the Chase Utley-Noah Syndergaard drama with his heated at-bat versus Matt Bush two weeks ago in Texas.

Bautista's first tweet happened on the heels of Utley's grand slam in the seventh, one inning after hitting a solo shot off Logan Verrett.

Similar to Utley, Bautista drew the ire of his opponent during last year's playoffs when he crushed a dramatic go-ahead homer during Game 5 of the ALDS and celebrated with an exaggerated bat flip. The wild sequence ignited a rivalry with the Rangers and led to him getting hit by Bush on May 15 this season in an incident that triggered Rougned Odor's punch and a benches-clearing brawl.

Related: Baseball world split over Syndergaard's quick ejection

Bush, however, was neither ejected nor suspended for what appeared to be an intentional pitch toward Bautista. By contrast, on Saturday in Queens, Syndergaard was issued an immediate ejection without warning for throwing behind Utley, who broke Ruben Tejada's leg during last year's NLDS between the Mets and Dodgers.

Utley's infamous takeout slide on Tejada prompted the league to institute new slide rules to protect middle infielders. The Dodgers second baseman was initially suspended two games, but the ban was rescinded because his slide preceded the new regulation.

Ironically, that new rule played a key role in the Rangers-Blue Jays brawl, after Bautista's slide on Odor escalated tensions further and resulted, in part, in a one-game suspension for the Blue Jays slugger.

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