"Pat Borders took a cheap shot at Santiago” - When Reds Manager Davey Johnson opened up on the unforgettable fight with the Astros

The Houston Astros have not been strangers when it comes to controversial moments. Long before the team's infamous sign-stealing scandal, the club found themselves at the forefront of a heated on-field battle against the Cincinnati Reds which led to multiple suspensions.

Back on September 5, 1995, tempers flared between the two teams. Even though Houston finished the game with an impressive 10-1 victory, the club literally needed to fight for it.

Several different bench-clearing brawls broke out, with tensions kicking off after Astros' Pat Borders bumped into Reds catcher Benito Santiago on a play at the plate. That was the moment that Cincinnati manager Davey Johnson said sparked the frustrations between both teams.

"The first thing is that Borders took a cheap shot at Santiago, everybody on our club saw it so we fired a warning shot to show them that we can't be pushed around and intimidated," Johnson said via The Washington Post in September 1995.

Following Borders' bump in the bottom of the 6th inning while he was scoring a run, tempers reached an all-time high. Against the next batter for Houston, pitcher Xavier Hernandez took matters into his own hands as he threw an inside pitch at Brian Hunter which he was able to avoid but led to the first bench-clearing.

The mayhem continued in the top of the 7th inning. Reds slugger Ron Gant came to the plate and instantly started shouting at Astros catcher Pat Borders. After a few words were exchanged, Gant pushed Borders before putting him in a headlock, leading to yet another bench-clearing brawl.

The Astros and Reds engaged in one more bench-clearing brawl before the game was all wrapped up

While one may think that the umpires would have had things under control after the second brawl — that was not the case. Xavier Hernandez was at the center of the melee yet again after hitting Jeff Bagwell with a pitch inside. For the third time, the benches cleared with players from both teams going at one another.

When all was said and done, four players from the Cincinnati Reds and two players from the Houston Astros were ejected. Both managers from each team were also ejected from the action.

As a result, several different suspensions were handed out and Hernandez received the harshest punishment after he was suspended for eight games. Ron Gant received four games and Reds manager Davey Johnson was handed a two-game suspension.

On the other side of the diamond, Houston manager Terry Collins was also suspended for two games while Doug Drabek and Pat Borders each got five games each.