Dodgers’ 5-run 6th inning decides wild one with Padres
LOS ANGELES — When the Dodgers and San Diego Padres get together, the baseball is usually pretty good. Like a good reality show, though, the drama is even better.
Last fall’s five-game National League Division Series featured Jurickson Profar’s now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t trolling of Dodgers fans after he robbed Mookie Betts of a home run. When Fernando Tatis Jr. started taunting fans in the right field pavilion, debris rained down on the outfield and NLDS Game 2 was briefly halted with security taking the field.
Later in the series, Jack Flaherty and Manny Machado were exchanging words when Machado threw a ball toward the Dodgers’ dugout – an “unnerving” moment in Manager Dave Roberts’ description.
Shots were fired again Tuesday night with both sides emerging bruised. The Dodgers landed the most telling blow, though – a five-run sixth inning that boosted them to an 8-6 victory over the Padres.
The win was the Dodgers’ fourth in five games against the Padres over the past week.
The fuse for Tuesday’s fireworks was lit in the fourth inning on Monday night when Dylan Cease hit Andy Pages with a pitch. Pages reacted angrily, gesturing and yelling at the Padres. After the game, Pages made it clear he thought he had been hit intentionally.
Machado dismissed the idea, implying Pages isn’t a big enough star to merit sending a message.
“They got way more superstars over there if we want to hit somebody,” Machado said. “They’ve got some big dogs over there we could hit.”
Some big dogs got hit Tuesday night.
Tatis was the first, wearing a 95 mph fastball from Dodgers reliever Lou Trivino in the third inning. That helped fuel a two-run inning that gave the Padres a 3-2 lead. Pages had to go to the wall to make a catch and Max Muncy started a double play to get Trivino out of that inning.
In the bottom of the third, Shohei Ohtani came up against Padres starter Randy Vasquez. Vasquez’s first pitch was a 94-mph fastball in, off the plate. His second, another fastball, hit Ohtani squarely in the side of his right leg, above the knee.
The umpiring crew gathered to discuss the situation, emerging to warn both benches against any more target practice. That brought Roberts out of the Dodgers’ dugout to confront crew chief Marvin Hudson, asking for an explanation and clearly saying, “That’s baseball” about the exchange of inside pitches.
But even before Roberts could get his audience with Hudson, third-base umpire Tripp Gibson ejected Roberts from the game. That set Roberts off. He became even more agitated, gesturing at Gibson as Hudson tried to stay between the two.
The Dodgers already had their issues with Gibson from their series at Citi Field in New York last month. Gibson made a rare “visual obstruction” call against Dodgers third baseman Muncy, giving the Mets a run.
Through all this, Pages channeled his emotions more effectively. He hit two home runs off Vasquez, tying the game at 3-3 with the second. It was half of a four-hit game for Pages.
The Dodgers untied it in a big way, greeting Padres reliever Jeremiah Estrada with five consecutive hits in the sixth inning. The biggest was a two-run home run by Will Smith that gave the Dodgers the lead.
Smith’s drive into the left-field pavilion came on the 12th pitch (11th fastball) of the at-bat. He fouled off eight of the 11 fastballs Estrada fed him, finally timing the last one.
There was more tension to be endured in the seventh inning, though. Padres pinch-hitter Trenton Brooks brought things closer with a two-run home run and the Padres added another run on a bases-loaded balk by Michael Kopech – only after more umpire involvement. Tatis beat a force play at second base then wandered off the base and was tagged by Betts but time had been called.
Anthony Banda wriggled out of his own bases-loaded trap in the eighth and Tanner Scott (pitching for the third consecutive day) closed it out in the ninth.
More to come on this story.