VIDEO: Brawl in White Sox-Royals game results in 5 ejections

It was fight night in Chicago and Yordano Ventura was once again in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

The Kansas City Royals right-hander - making his first start since being fined an undisclosed amount for intentionally throwing at Oakland Athletics third baseman Brett Lawrie on April 18 - sparked another benches-clearing melee in Thursday's clash with the White Sox.

Ventura appeared to shout an obscenity at White Sox outfielder Adam Eaton after he hit a sharp grounder back to the Royals pitcher, which caused a massive brawl to ensue in the bottom of the seventh inning.

(Courtesy: MLB.com)

Chris Sale and Jeff Samardzija were ejected for the White Sox, while Edinson Volquez, Lorenzo Cain and Ventura were also given the hook for their respective roles in the melee.

Three separate incidents earlier in the game caused tensions to boil over.

It all started when Ventura collided with Micah Johnson on a bang-bang play at first base in the third inning. Johnson appeared to kick Ventura in the right ankle while the Royals hurler was covering the bag. 

Ventura then retaliated by hitting slugger Jose Abreu with a 2-2 fastball in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Sale responded by plunking Mike Moustakas in the right shoulder/chin area with a pitch in the top of the fifth inning, prompting the umpires to issue warnings to both clubs and setting the stage for the massive brawl.

Suspensions and fines will surely be dished out by the league in the days to come, but Yahoo Sports' Jeff Passan has already offered an educated guess in regards to the punishments.

The bad blood began between the two squads on Opening Day when Samardzija drilled Cain with a fastball, which led to Royals lefty Danny Duffy throwing behind the head of Adam LaRoche one day later.

The Royals eventually prevailed 3-2 in 13 innings Thursday to improve to 12-4 on the season.