Brandon Hyde igniting Friday night brawl with Yankees could be spark Orioles need

Tensions between the Orioles and Yankees were evident during the team's last series in the Bronx as hit by pitches were the name of the game in that series. However, it never got to a boiling point, as the sides cooled off and both teams were out of the series before anything further escalated.

In their latest meeting this weekend, we didn't even make it through one game.

In the ninth inning of a 4-1 loss to the Yankees, Clay Holmes was on the mound to protect the Yankees lead, facing Heston Kjerstad with one out. Kjerstad, who has been playing well since his return from Triple A, was drilled in the head by a 96 mph pitch from Holmes, immediately going to the ground.

As Kjerstad was leaving the field with the Orioles' head athletic trainer, Brandon Hyde became incensed with someone in the Yankees dugout, throwing down what I can guess is Kjerstad's helmet and almost running towards the Yankees dugout until Austin Wells stopped him at home plate. The benches and bullpens cleared, and while there was no actual violence, there was a lot of jawing back and forth to go with some pushing and shoving.

After the game, Hyde explained his reaction as not liking the reaction by the Yankees coaching staff in their dugout, as they were "waving and yelling" at Hyde while he was checking on Kjerstad and flew off the handle as a result. However, this could be a spark the Orioles need badly.

Brandon Hyde may have just given the Orioles a spark with outburst at Yankees

Both sides acknowledged after the game that Holmes hitting Kjerstad was most certainly not intentional, so Hyde's outburst appears to be more of a wake up call for a sluggish team as of late.

The Orioles have struggled putting runs on the board, managing to score just twice against the Chicago Cubs in a rare sweep at home, having been shut out the last two games of that series.

Maybe Hyde ends up lighting a fire under the Orioles offense and they can close out the series in a big way against the Yankees in what is a pivotal series in the AL East race entering the all star break. It's also entirely possible the tensions continue to carry over, which would further ignite what already figures to be an exciting series.

Either way, we just hope that Kjerstad is OK after all of this. He was in concussion protocol as of Friday night, so his status for the foreseeable future remains to be seen.