Adam Eaton on melee with Royals: 'Sometimes boys will be boys'

Adam Eaton isn't apologizing for allegedly instigating a seventh-inning brawl between the Chicago White Sox and Kansas City Royals on Thursday night that resulted in five players being ejected.

"Sometimes boys will be boys and I think that was a situation where we had some excitement," Eaton said about the bench-clearing melee. "They've (Royals) earned everything they've gotten and now they want to keep it. You don't expect anything less."

Royals right-hander Yordano Ventura said Eaton was screaming at him after hitting a sharp comebacker back to the mound, but regrets how his reaction escalated the situation. The 23-year-old accepted full responsibility for the game getting out of control, and plans to get his emotions in check moving forward. He also spoke via interpreter and teammate Jeremy Guthrie about how he fears his reputation is becoming tarnished by his involvement in multiple scuffles in the past week.

Kansas City manager Ned Yost spoke candidly about the scrum, and admitted he feared for the safety of all the players involved and himself at one point.

"I found myself in the bottom of one of those piles," Yost exclaimed. "It's not fun being down there."

White Sox manager Robin Ventura was also dumbfounded by the sheer intensity of the brawl.

"You know, this game is emotional," Ventura stated. "It seems to follow them (Royals) around. It's happened often enough, so, I think everybody gets emotional and reacts to things. And that's what happened.

"I couldn't even tell you what happened. There's people everywhere."

Jeff Samardzija, who appeared to play the most violent role in the fight, declined to comment. Lorenzo Cain, however, chimed in postgame stating he wasn't "a big fan" of the righty.

The Royals increased their hearty MLB lead in ejections over the rest of the field to nine with the dismissals of Edinson Volquez, Cain and Ventura.