Pirates hot-head Tommy Pham levels steroids accusation in lashing out at Blue Jays
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Pirates outfielder Tommy Pham may have wanted a piece of Blue Jays catcher Tyler Heineman on Monday night in Pittsburgh, but his beef with the opposition didn’t stop there.
While the on-field incident in the bottom of the seventh inning caused both dugouts to empty, the social media volleys continued well into the night with Pham lashing out at both Heineman and Jays outfielder Addison Barger.
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Pirates hot-head Tommy Pham levels steroids accusation in lashing out at Blue Jays Back to video
Pham went to social media site X to take umbrage to Heineman’s version of events and that’s where the dispute took a turn towards ugly. In a response to another user, in a post he’s since deleted, the controversial Pirates veteran accused Barger of taking steroids.
The on-field incident with Heineman began after Pham was walked in the seventh inning of the Pirates 5-1 win. The situation was muted quickly, even after both dugouts emptied but picked up steam following the game.
“I don’t even know him,” Heineman told reporters in Pittsburgh of the incident in which Pham flipped his bat immediately after being issued the walk. “No idea. Barely know who he is. It was weird, man. It was unprovoked and super weird.
“He didn’t say a word to me. I didn’t say a word to him. He just looked like he wanted to have a fight.”
Once Pham got wind of those comments, he went off. Responding to MLB.com reporter Keegan Matheson’s posting of Heineman’s remarks on X, Pham escalated the drama.
Pham clearly had a different version of events than the Jays backup catcher of the call on the field.
“Bitching about a ball not being called a strike to the umpire when it’s clearly below the zone and away is disrespectful not only to the umpire but the hitter as well, so like I said when I flipped the bat, f*** him,” Pham posted on X in response to Heineman’s version of events. “I know the zone.”
Predictably, those comments provoked some mayhem on X. When a user who appears to be a Jays fan — with an Addison Barger picture on his profile — ripped him, Pham fired back.
“Your profile pic is of someone who takes steroids, loser,” he posted in the since deleted post.
Things continued to escalate and Pham responded to more of those ripping him with a screen shot from a 2019 TSN article from 2023 that reported Barger had a PED suspension in 2019.
The incident, particularly the post-game commentary, certainly turned what appeared to be a quiet series against the last-place Pirates into a potentially more heated one.
It’s clear that the Jays don’t have much respect for Pham, who earlier this season was suspended for one game for reportedly making an obscene gesture at a fan in Anaheim.
In his post-game comments on Monday, Jays manager John Schneider clearly had no use for Pham.
“I’m not worried about Tommy Pham’s opinion about anything,” Schneider told reporters in Pittsburgh. “I’m worried about our defence. I’m worried about our at-bats.”
The three-game series resumes on Tuesday night at PNC Park.
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