Data shows Jose Urena hit Ronald Acuna intentionally: modest BB, high HBP.

Braves rookie Ronald Acuna had hit leadoff homers in three consecutive games against the Marlins, then was Hit By Pitch on the first pitch thrown by Marlins starting pitcher Jose Urena in the first inning of the fourth game of the series, which the Braves swept.

Acuna had also homered in five consecutive games, including two in the previous game, and in 7 of the previous 8 games. On the Met telecast that night after the incident had become known, former Met Keith Hernandez stated that Acuna had to be hit.

After Braves and Marlins benches and bullpens cleared for a brawl, the umpires eventually ejected Urena for intentionally hitting Acuna. The video makes it look intentional but look at the data for this season.

It's been my contention for several years that pitchers with relatively few Bases on Ball (BB) but high HBP are hitting batters, not because they are wild, but because they want to hit batters.

For 2018, Qualified for league ERA title, sorted by smallest Bases On Balls per 9 IP from baseball-reference.com

Best control among 74 qualifying pitchers:

Rk	Player	BB9	HBP	WP	BB	IP	Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	GS	CG	SHO	GF	W	L	W-L%	SV	H	R	ER	SO	ERA	FIP	K%	BB%	ERA+	BAbip	HR	BF	AB	2B	3B	IBB	SH	SF	GDP	SB	CS	PO	BK	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+	Pit	Str
1	Corey Kluber	1.18	2	2	22	168.0	2018	32	CLE	AL	25	25	2	1	0	15	6	.714	0	133	56	50	160	2.68	3.31	24.8%	3.4%	166	.255	21	646	619	22	2	0	1	2	13	0	6	0	0	.215	.243	.359	.602	58	2421	1618
2	Bartolo Colon	1.53	3	2	23	135.1	2018	45	TEX	AL	24	22	1	0	1	7	10	.412	0	148	80	78	75	5.19	5.12	13.2%	4.0%	91	.276	26	570	536	29	9	1	1	7	5	1	1	1	0	.276	.306	.509	.815	109	2028	1349
3	Justin Verlander	1.53	7	2	28	164.1	2018	35	HOU	AL	26	26	1	1	0	11	8	.579	0	122	49	46	217	2.52	2.98	33.8%	4.4%	157	.270	23	643	603	24	4	0	1	4	2	3	3	2	2	.202	.245	.370	.614	70	2626	1796
4	Miles Mikolas	1.55	5	2	26	151.1	2018	29	STL	NL	24	24	1	1	0	12	3	.800	0	133	52	48	102	2.85	3.37	16.9%	4.3%	139	.268	11	605	564	14	4	4	6	4	15	2	1	0	1	.236	.274	.333	.607	70	2227	1533
5	Marco Gonzales	1.77	6	1	28	142.2	2018	26	SEA	AL	24	24	1	0	0	12	8	.600	0	148	64	62	125	3.91	3.58	21.3%	4.8%	102	.320	16	588	549	34	1	0	1	4	22	3	4	6	0	.270	.310	.423	.733	104	2205	1495
6	Carlos Carrasco	1.78	6	4	27	136.1	2018	31	CLE	AL	23	22	2	0	0	14	6	.700	0	126	57	53	155	3.50	3.14	28.1%	4.9%	127	.319	16	551	513	23	3	4	2	3	11	11	2	1	0	.246	.290	.396	.685	81	2079	1399
7	Zack Greinke	1.79	4	0	31	156.0	2018	34	ARI	NL	25	25	0	0	0	12	8	.600	0	133	53	52	158	3.00	3.64	25.3%	5.0%	146	.272	22	625	585	24	2	1	2	3	5	1	4	0	0	.227	.270	.388	.658	74	2431	1574
8	Mike Leake	1.80	4	2	31	154.2	2018	30	SEA	AL	25	25	0	0	0	8	7	.533	0	164	73	67	96	3.90	4.11	15.0%	4.8%	102	.297	18	642	604	35	4	3	1	1	22	1	5	2	0	.272	.311	.432	.743	107	2284	1527
9	Mike Fiers	1.80	5	2	26	130.1	2018	33	TOT	AL	23	23	0	0	0	8	6	.571	0	131	52	49	100	3.38	4.53	18.4%	4.8%	131	.279	22	545	512	26	3	1	1	1	6	7	3	0	0	.256	.298	.447	.745	99	2017	1313
10	Sean Manaea	1.84	8	9	31	151.2	2018	26	OAK	AL	25	25	1	1	0	11	8	.579	0	127	60	58	102	3.44	4.21	16.6%	5.1%	118	.240	19	613	570	23	2	1	3	1	10	5	4	0	0	.223	.272	.370	.642	78	2237	1507

Number 74:
Lucas Giolito 4.92 13 8 72 in 131 innings
Giolito hits many batters because he has bad control, more than one BB every two innings.

Number 30, right in the middle of the pack of 74:
Jose Urena 2.58 11 2 37 in 129 innings
Urena hit batters intentionally.  Only 2 WP. Only one BB every 3.5 innings.

Intent follows the data. Pitchers with at least 10 HBP, sorted by BB9:

Rk	Player	BB9	HBP	WP	BB	IP	Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	GS	CG	SHO	GF	W	L	W-L%	SV	H	R	ER	SO	ERA	FIP	K%	BB%	ERA+	BAbip	HR	BF	AB	2B	3B	IBB	SH	SF	GDP	SB	CS	PO	BK	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+	Pit	Str
1	Chris Sale	2.03	11	4	33	146.0	2018	29	BOS	AL	23	23	0	0	0	12	4	.750	0	91	34	32	219	1.97	1.95	38.7%	5.8%	221	.276	10	566	519	20	2	0	0	3	4	6	2	1	0	.175	.239	.279	.518	40	2292	1567
2	Rick Porcello	2.14	11	2	36	151.2	2018	29	BOS	AL	25	25	1	0	0	15	5	.750	0	138	73	68	150	4.04	3.74	23.6%	5.7%	108	.285	19	636	582	26	2	0	2	5	6	4	0	1	1	.237	.292	.387	.678	82	2398	1587
3	Jose Berrios	2.58	11	2	44	153.2	2018	24	MIN	AL	25	25	2	1	0	11	8	.579	0	129	65	64	157	3.75	3.80	24.7%	6.9%	115	.274	19	635	577	29	1	1	2	1	9	4	2	1	0	.224	.291	.376	.667	80	2403	1555
4	Jose Urena	2.58	11	2	37	129.0	2018	26	MIA	NL	24	24	0	0	0	3	12	.200	0	128	69	68	104	4.74	4.17	19.2%	6.8%	79	.305	15	542	487	23	2	7	4	3	12	4	6	2	1	.263	.327	.411	.738	114	2125	1329
5	Jakob Junis	2.62	12	5	37	127.0	2018	25	KCR	AL	22	22	0	0	0	6	11	.353	0	130	73	68	122	4.82	5.06	22.1%	6.7%	88	.294	26	553	496	19	3	1	2	6	6	5	3	0	0	.262	.325	.470	.795	117	2060	1334
6	Tanner Roark	2.81	10	5	45	144.1	2018	31	WSN	NL	24	23	0	0	1	7	12	.368	0	140	68	66	125	4.12	4.01	20.5%	7.4%	103	.302	16	610	545	22	3	3	4	6	15	4	6	1	0	.257	.322	.396	.718	93	2359	1487
7	Cole Hamels	3.13	14	7	46	132.1	2018	34	TOT	ML	23	23	0	0	0	7	9	.438	0	126	73	62	134	4.22	4.75	23.4%	8.0%	111	.291	23	572	507	23	2	0	0	4	16	15	2	1	2	.249	.326	.438	.764	100	2169	1380
8	Felix Hernandez	3.33	11	5	48	129.2	2018	32	SEA	AL	24	23	0	0	0	8	11	.421	0	137	90	81	101	5.62	5.07	17.5%	8.3%	71	.297	21	576	509	33	2	0	3	4	12	9	1	0	0	.269	.343	.466	.808	125	2145	1344
9	Jhoulys Chacin	3.41	10	3	55	145.0	2018	30	MIL	NL	26	26	0	0	0	12	4	.750	0	118	65	60	119	3.72	4.12	19.6%	9.1%	112	.257	14	606	530	24	4	1	4	7	8	6	4	0	0	.223	.304	.362	.666	83	2289	1430
10	Clayton Richard	3.48	10	6	58	150.0	2018	34	SDP	NL	25	25	0	0	0	7	10	.412	0	141	86	83	102	4.98	4.63	16.0%	9.1%	79	.278	17	638	563	29	5	1	5	2	20	5	2	3	1	.250	.330	.410	.740	109	2243	1401
11	Charlie Morton	3.54	12	2	54	137.1	2018	34	HOU	AL	23	23	0	0	0	12	3	.800	0	104	47	44	171	2.88	3.44	30.2%	9.5%	137	.287	14	566	496	21	3	0	1	3	10	3	3	2	0	.210	.301	.349	.650	83	2200	1394
12	Lucas Giolito	4.92	13	8	72	131.2	2018	23	CHW	AL	24	24	0	0	0	8	9	.471	0	126	92	90	91	6.15	5.79	15.4%	12.2%	67	.267	21	591	501	31	2	1	1	4	12	21	2	0	0	.251	.358	.447	.805	124	2259	1352

Urena has the fourth best control in this group. The two at the top are Red Sox. Chris Sale has a BB to HBP ratio of 3 to 1 (33/11). Sale hits batters intentionally. In an August 3 dust up at Fenway Park with the Yankees Sale was the leading antagonist in the Boston dugout when Yankee starter Luis Severino threw up and in to Boston leadoff batter Mookie Betts after Yankee leadoff batter Brett Gardner had just been HBP by ... number two above Rick Porcello.

If the league ever cracks down on these criminals, it might stop. This without getting into a morality play about this ridiculous barbarity. The league is afraid of the players union, half of whom, the ball players, should favor such a crackdown.