Fracas, then food: Fan sends Winker pizza delivery
This browser does not support the video element.
It was quite the day for Jesse Winker ... and a pizza delivery driver.
The Mariners outfielder was ejected for sparking a benches-clearing fracas on Sunday after Angels pitcher Andrew Wantz hit him in the back with a 91 mph fastball, just an inning after rookie Julio Rodr¨ªguez had a ball thrown near his head.
Winker charged the Angels' dugout and a several-minutes-long skirmish took place with plenty of punches thrown and shoves handed out.
For all his trouble, an enterprising Mariners fan named Sofie Dill decided to reward Winker with a pizza delivery.
The delivery driver, Simranjeet Singh, got orders to drop the pepperoni pizza off at the visiting team's clubhouse at Angel Stadium, specifically for Winker. Singh would, eventually, make his way inside the parking gates and get Winker his Sunday evening dinner, and Dill later received a direct message from the Mariners outfielder on Twitter: "Sofie I got the pizza. Thank you. I appreciate it a lot!"
According to The Athletic (subscription required), Dill informed Singh that other fans wanted to donate extra tips for his effort, so Singh set up a Venmo account and Dill shared the information on Twitter.
¡°I thought she meant like five or 10 people,¡± Singh told The Athletic. ¡°Money is money. Everyone needs money. So, I was like, 'OK.'
It turned out to be a lot more than that. By Sunday night, Singh estimated between 300 and 400 people had contributed.
¡°I just got home, and I still can¡¯t explain what happened to me the last five hours,¡± said Singh, who has a nine-month-old son with his wife, Gurmeet Kaur. ¡°I¡¯m still in my dreams right now. This is a life-changing delivery for me right now. I¡¯m really thankful to Sofie. In the last five hours, she did so, so, so much for me. Thank you to each and every person who tipped me. I don¡¯t even know you. But you helped me a lot, a lot, a lot.¡±