Victor Robles wins the exchange with Madison Bumgarner with clown nose response

So, turns out Madison Bumgarner, who has a history of not liking it when hitters watch their own home runs off him, didn’t like the way Victor Robles celebrated his late-game homer in the Washington Nationals’ 7-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday night. He told reporters as much in his post game scrum in the D-backs’ clubhouse:

“He’s a clown, golly,” Bumgarner said. “No shame. No shame. It was 7-1, and you hit your third home run of the year, and you act like Barry Bonds breaking the record. Clean it up. I don’t care about giving up the run. Hell, we won 7-2, 8-2, whatever it was. It’s frustrating.

“I’m the old grumpy guy, I know, but that type of stuff didn’t use to happen. Now, it’s — it’s ridiculous.”

“When he’s pitching well, he’s able to celebrate and do what he likes to do,” Robles said, via Nationals’ interpreter Octavio Martinez.

“It seems like he calls everybody a clown that actually has a big hit or home run against him, you know. If he doesn’t want anyone hitting a home run against him or having any issues with that, then just keep striking people out or making better pitches, to where he doesn’t have to worry about that.”

“You know, I’ve seen a lot worse. Let’s put it that way. We know that Bum does get frustrated when guys hit home runs off him ... if he deems that they didn’t run right away. But you know what? I’ve seen way, way worse,” Nats’ manager Davey Martinez said on Sunday morning. “So I mean, I thought Victor didn’t do a whole lot to [warrant] him calling him a clown, but that’s the way Bum sees it. I’ve got a lot of respect for him. He’s been a hell of a pitcher for a long time. But I thought Vic didn’t do much to warrant that.”

“I respect the career he’s had,” Robles said, as quoted by MASN’s Mark Zuckerman before the series finale in Arizona. “He has done a lot in this game. He’s earned his stripes, as we would say. He’s a veteran guy. My kind of personality, I don’t take into account that kind of stuff. I don’t react to those reactions or words that come out of him. I just play my game.”

But before he just played his game in Sunday’s matchup, Robles played Bumgarner’s:

Robles’s manager said after the game he wasn’t thrilled with the decision to don the clown nose.

“That’s now who we are, right?” Martinez asked rhetorically, as quoted by MLB.com’s Jessica Camerato. “It happened. It’s done. I don’t want to see that kind of stuff.”