Jeff McNeil, Rhys Hoskins get heated during Brewers-Mets opener - ESPN

NEW YORK — Even on a new team in a different division, it took all of one game for Rhys Hoskins to rile up the New York Mets.

Tempers flared Friday during the season opener at Citi Field when the Milwaukee Brewers' newcomer — who agitated the Mets during his days with the NL East rival Phillies — slid hard into second baseman Jeff McNeil on a potential double-play ball in the eighth inning.

«Just a late slide. We've had a little bit of a past, so I knew there was a chance that he'd be coming in like that,» McNeil said after Milwaukee's 3-1 victory. «Didn't like his slide. I wasn't trying to turn a double play at all. Just trying to catch the ball. There was no need to break it up.»

McNeil was visibly angry after the play, gesturing and yelling down at Hoskins as the Milwaukee slugger was on the ground. Hoskins got up and headed for the Brewers' dugout, but both benches and bullpens spilled onto the field.

Hoskins said he kept his cleats down on the slide, and he thought McNeil overreacted.

«I'm just trying to play baseball, right?» Hoskins said. «The last thing I want to do is give them a clear lane to make a double play. So, a certain someone took — McNeil took (exception) to my slide, but I didn't really think much of it, to be honest. I ended up hitting him, but that's what happens with a slow-developing play.»

The teams stayed separated and there was no pushing and shoving, though Hoskins rubbed his eyes as if to call McNeil a crybaby, and McNeil cursed at Hoskins from across the diamond.

«A few choice words. But, you know, I've played in this ballpark a bunch, and he just seems to be complaining when things aren't going well and I think that's kind of one of those moments,» Hoskins said. «Maybe lost in the heat of