LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani took a 100 mph fastball to his proper shoulder blade within the backside half of Thursday night time’s ninth inning, marking the eighth time a batter had been hit in one other tension-filled sequence between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres.
Anger stuffed Dodger Stadium, by which level a sold-out crowd had largely filed out. Gamers had been able to spill out of the dugout as soon as extra. However Ohtani raised his left hand and vigorously waved teammates off as he made his stroll towards first base, clamoring for peace.
The fireworks had already taken place.
A half-inning earlier, Fernando Tatis Jr. took a 93 mph fastball to the best hand by Dodgers rookie right-hander Jack Little. It marked the second time in a span of three days that Tatis and Ohtani had been hit by pitches nearly instantly after each other. Extra notably for the Padres, it marked the fifth time the Dodgers had hit Tatis because the begin of the 2024 season, together with 3 times over the previous 9 days.
Padres supervisor Mike Shildt walked towards Tatis and yelled within the path of the opposing dugout. Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts ran onto the sector and shoved Shildt earlier than being separated. Each bullpens and dugouts emptied, although order was restored earlier than punches had been thrown.
By the top of the night time, two managers, one bench coach (Brian Esposito) and one pitcher (Robert Suarez, whose pitch hit Ohtani) had been ejected. The Padres held on for a 5-3 victory, and afterward, Padres star third baseman Manny Machado, a central character on this rivalry, mentioned the Dodgers had higher “pray” Tatis just isn’t significantly injured.
“They should set somewhat candle up for Tati tomorrow,” Machado mentioned. “Hopefully [the scans] comes again unfavorable. That is not a great spot to get hit. I do not care who it’s, I do not care who’s on the mound.”
Tatis wore a bandage on his proper hand after the sport and sounded dejected when requested how he was feeling.
“Not good,” he mentioned.
Preliminary X-rays had been inconclusive, Tatis added. A CT scan will decide the extent of his harm on Friday.
The Dodgers have hit Tatis a complete of six instances in his profession. The 28 different groups have mixed to hit him 4 instances, in accordance with ESPN Analysis.
“Simply clear it up,” he mentioned. “I am right here to play baseball.”
The Padres and Dodgers performed 5 tight Nationwide League Division Collection contests final fall — the Dodgers received the ultimate two video games whereas dealing with elimination, shutting the Padres out for twenty-four consecutive innings — however didn’t meet this season till June. Thursday’s contest marked the seventh time they’d performed each other in a span of 11 days. The Dodgers took two of three from San Diego final week, then three of 4 from Dodger Stadium this week — and each recreation appeared to convey with it some animus.
On Monday night time, Dodgers outfielder Andy Pages was plunked within the left elbow guard, screamed within the path of Dylan Stop, then later mentioned he felt he was hit deliberately, maybe as a result of the Padres thought he was relaying indicators from second base the prior inning. The next night time, Tatis was hit by a Lou Trivino sinker to the higher again within the prime of the third and Ohtani received hit in the best leg by a Randy Vasquez fastball within the backside half, triggering Roberts’ first ejection of the season. Later, Machado took concern with umpires not ejecting Dodgers reliever Matt Sauer when he hit Jose Iglesias within the left wrist after warnings had been issued.
Thursday took the feelings of this sequence to a different stage.
Trivino, who additionally hit Tatis when he led off the sport from Petco Park on June 10, struck Bryce Johnson within the knee within the seventh inning. Two batters later, Tatis was brushed again by one other Trivino fastball, prompting Shildt to scream in his path. Tatis getting plunked once more two innings later, after Roberts had begun to empty his bench whereas trailing 5-0, set all the pieces off.
Shildt mentioned he wasn’t certain if it was intentional. By now, he mentioned, that is irrelevant.
“We received a man who’s getting X-rays proper now, is likely one of the finest gamers within the recreation, thankfully on our crew, and this man has taken photographs, OK?” Shildt mentioned. “And earlier than this sequence, and I can again this up with full proof, the monitor data communicate for themselves — groups that I handle do not get into altercations like this as a result of groups that I handle do not throw at individuals. But additionally, groups I handle do not take something.
“And after some time, I am not gonna take it. And I am not gonna take it on behalf of Tati, I am not gonna take it on behalf of the crew, intentional or unintentional. It is actually that straightforward. That is how this recreation is performed. And if you happen to wanna name that old fashioned, then yeah, we’ll play old-school baseball.”
Roberts famous that Little, who sparked the benches-clearing incident when his pitch hit Tatis, was making his main league debut.
“Clearly,” Roberts mentioned, “I feel anybody is aware of there was no intent.”
“And in order [Shildt] comes out, and he is yelling at me and staring me down, that bothers me,” Roberts added. “As a result of, to be fairly frank, that is the very last thing I needed. I am taking starters out of the sport, making an attempt to get this recreation over with and get this child a pair innings. I took that non-public. As a result of I perceive the sport, and I perceive that it would not really feel good to get hit.”
Roberts mentioned believes the Padres deliberately hit Ohtani with a pitch on Thursday night time, echoing the identical sentiments from Tuesday.
“It is a right-handed pitcher going cross-court to hit Shohei up and in,” Roberts mentioned of the pitch, which got here on a 3-0 rely. “That is a tough throw. And I do not know what number of left-handed hitters Suarez has hit with the fastball, however clearly there was intent behind it.”
With the sequence over, the Dodgers maintain a 3½-game lead within the NL West over the second-place San Francisco Giants, contemporary off buying Rafael Devers. The Padres trailed by 5 video games.
They will not see the Dodgers once more till August.
“We’re gonna get after it for the subsequent two months,” Shildt mentioned, “and so they’ll be on the schedule two months from now, and we’ll be prepared.”
