WBC fight: Luis Cruz prominently involved in Mexico-Canada brawl

With Mexico's 10-3 loss to Canada on Saturday in the World Baseball Classic, it likely means Adrian Gonzalez and Luis Cruz will be back with the Dodgers sooner, as Mexico finished Pool D play at just 1-2. But perhaps more importantly, Cruz could face MLB discipline for his role in an ugly brawl that marred the end of Mexico's game with Canada.

In the ninth inning of an intense and chippy game, Canada's Chris Robinson bunted to open the ninth inning, up 9-3. This did not please Cruz, who had instructions for Mexico pitcher Arnold Leon.

Leon followed instructions and plunked the next batter, Rene Tosoni, after buzzing him with a pitch. That emptied both benches.

In the scrum, Cruz escalated things by appearing to throw a punch.

Seven players were ejected for the incident but amazingly Cruz was not one of them. But now we wait to see what kind of discipline he might receive from MLB.

Cruz will receive a hero's welcome from Dodgers teammate Javy Guerra, who nearly joined Cruz on Team Mexico before getting declared ineligible.

You know how fights in baseball get avoided ??? U play the game right! Who bunts there? Whats the score? That's how people get hurt!

— JavyGuerra54 (@JavyGuerra54) March 9, 2013

While bunting to get on in that situation is generally a plunkable offense, the fact that run differential is a tiebreaker in the WBC nullifies any complaints of running up the score.

With Canada's win, Nick Punto and Team Italy have clinched a spot in the second round of the WBC.