LOS ANGELES — For each split-second that Andy Pages continued his staredown of Dylan Stop, the opportunity of Dodgers-Padres fireworks appeared to extend exponentially.
Gamers from either side jumped the railings of their dugouts and scowled at one another from the warning-track grime. Each managers made their method towards the plate umpire. The bullpen gates opened, and each reduction corps readied to enter a possible fracas.
And Stop, on the heart of all of it? He stood on the mound with a bemused and baffled look on his face. Then he shrugged. Intent? In that spot? With the highest of that Dodgers lineup looming?
“I didn’t perceive it,” Stop mentioned of Pages’ response. “It’s not going to discourage me from throwing inside. I don’t know if I’ve ever hit a Dodger earlier than. [He hadn’t.] It simply occurs. It’s a part of the sport.”
Nothing got here of the incident — aside from a free baserunner for the Dodgers that might show extraordinarily pricey to the Padres of their 6-3 loss at Dodger Stadium. Tensions settled. The story of the night time was in the end Shohei Ohtani’s return to the mound (and his huge night time on the plate).
However, hey, don’t rule out these fireworks.
After the sport, Pages maintained he believed he’d been plunked deliberately. He instructed reporters in Spanish, together with ESPN’s Alden González, that he believed he might have been hit as a result of the Padres would possibly’ve thought he was relaying indicators from second base after his first at-bat. Nonetheless, Pages afterward indicated that he would possibly’ve overreacted.
“I reacted on adrenaline,” he mentioned in Spanish. “What occurred, occurred. I attempted to discover a strategy to apologize.”
Stop and the remainder of the Padres maintained it wasn’t intentional, and Manny Machado took it one step additional.
“They bought far more superstars over there if we wish to hit someone,” Machado mentioned. “They’ve bought some huge canine over there we may hit. This recreation is loopy, proper, this rivalry. It’s forwards and backwards. Taking part in this competitors, issues get heated. You wish to go on the market and compete. He’s having a helluva yr. He’s going to proceed having a helluva yr. Rooting for him, but it surely’s simply a part of the sport.”
This wasn’t fairly Will Smith calling Jurickson Profar “irrelevant” after an identical incident final season, by which Profar additionally voiced his displeasure after being plunked. But it surely did have echoes of that. Machado went out of his strategy to praise Pages afterward. (And, as Machado famous, Pages is within the midst of a profession yr with 13 homers and an .806 OPS.)
Neither supervisor made an excessive amount of of the scenario (although neither supervisor appeared but to concentrate on Pages’ competition of relaying indicators).
“No, I don’t suppose it was intentional,” Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts mentioned. “It simply by no means feels good to get hit on the arm by 100 [mph], so I believe Andy was simply extra annoyed. I don’t suppose there was intent behind it, and it bought subtle shortly.”
Roberts shortly approached plate umpire Tripp Gibson asking for the umpires to convene. Padres supervisor Mike Shildt was proper behind him. The umpires met on the infield briefly, however no warnings had been issued.
“It’s simply: He had the response, and as soon as the response takes place, we’re going to ensure all people’s calm,” Shildt mentioned.
On this occasion, calmness prevailed. That’s not at all times the case with these two groups. They performed a heated five-game NLDS final October and have met in three of the previous 5 postseasons, with the Dodgers profitable two of these sequence.
This yr, the Padres once more seem like one of many greatest threats to the Dodgers within the NL West (although the Giants did simply pull off a blockbuster commerce for Rafael Devers, addressing their greatest want seemingly out of nowhere).
With Monday’s loss, San Diego sits 4 video games again of Los Angeles, and a couple of 1/2 behind San Francisco — with all three presently in playoff place. At this level, would it not shock anyone if the Padres and Dodgers had been to satisfy in October for a fourth time in six years?
If that’s the case, Monday’s fourth inning must be a lesson in what to not do for these Padres. Stop was maybe as dominant as he’d been all season over the primary three innings, placing out the primary 5 Dodgers he’d confronted and reeling off 18 fastballs at 99 mph or more durable on the night time.
Then, with one out within the fourth, Jake Cronenworth made a large throw to first and Luis Arraez couldn’t maintain the bag. The Dodgers had an affordable baserunner. Then one other, when Stop plunked Pages. They’d rating 5 occasions within the body. Regardless of the electrical stuff, Stop completed having allowed six earned runs throughout 5 innings.
“You quit that many runs,” he mentioned, “you don’t actually give your staff a superb probability.”
