 In September 2007, Runge was part of an incident involving then Padres outfielder Milton Bradley and first base umpire Mike Winters.Winters had apparently told Runge that Bradley "flipped his bat in [his] direction" after being called out on strikes earlier in the game.Runge denied that Winters had told him this, but when Bradley came to the plate in the 8th inning, Runge did ask Bradley about the bat flip.