In the late innings of their seventh head-to-head game in a span of 11 days, the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers finally ran out of patience with each other. The two National League West rivals, never particularly fond of each other under any circumstances, exchanged hit batsmen — star hit batsmen — and nearly brawled during an eventual 5-3 San Diego win.
In all, 10 total batters were hit in those seven games, including eight in the just-concluded four-game set. Hostilities finally bubbled over when Padres outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr. was hit on the right hand in the ninth inning of Thursday’s series finale by a fastball from Dodgers rookie Jack Little:
Tatis, who’s been hit by Dodger pitchers three times this season, exited the game and was sent for X-rays, which were inconclusive. Regardless of any intent, any team will react when their best player is hit that many times by the same opponent, and indeed, reprisal came in the bottom of the ninth. That’s when Robert Suarez drilled Shohei Ohtani on the shoulder. Ohtani, though, would ensure matters didn’t come to a head once again:
In all, four were ejected before the game ended: Managers Mike Shildt and Dave Roberts, Padres bench coach Brian Esposito, and Suarez.
As for the Tatis drilling, he’ll undergo a CT scan on Friday to determine the extent of any injury. “I didn’t feel good about Tatis — great player, good guy — getting hit,” Roberts said after the game. “I didn’t feel good about it. And so as [Shildt] comes out, and he’s yelling at me and staring me down, that bothers me. Because, to be quite frank, that’s the last thing I wanted.”
“Whether it was [intentional] or it wasn’t, enough is enough,” Shildt said. “We got a guy who’s getting X-rays right now, is one of the best players in the game, fortunately, he’s on our team, and this guy has taken shots, OK?”
The most ominous remarks, though, came from Padres third baseman Manny Machado. “They gotta pray for [results] to come back negative tomorrow,” Machado said. “They should. Us, too, but they should for sure.”
Thursday’s results dropped the Dodgers to 46-30, but they still hold on to first place in the NL West. They’re a game behind the Chicago Cubs for the best record in the NL. The third-place Padres are now 40-34 and five games behind the Dodgers in the division. They’re a half-game ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers and St. Louis Cardinals for the third and final wild-card spot in the NL.
These two teams will have plenty of time to simmer down — or to stew on matters — as they don’t meet again until Aug. 15-17 in Los Angeles and Aug. 22-24 in San Diego. The Dodgers lead the season series over San Diego by a margin of 5-2, although the Padres have outscored them 37-35 across those seven games.