LOS ANGELES — For each split-second that Andy Pages continued his staredown of Dylan Stop, the potential for 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 aid 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 stated 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 — apart from a free baserunner for the Dodgers that may 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 informed 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 stated in Spanish. “What occurred, occurred. I attempted to discover a option to apologize.”
Stop and the remainder of the Padres maintained it wasn’t intentional, and Manny Machado took it one step additional.
“They received far more superstars over there if we need to hit any individual,” Machado stated. “They’ve received some huge canine over there we may hit. This sport is loopy, proper, this rivalry. It’s backwards and forwards. Enjoying this competitors, issues get heated. You need 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, during which Profar additionally voiced his displeasure after a perceived function pitch. Nevertheless it did have echoes of that. Machado went out of his option 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 state of affairs (although neither supervisor appeared but to concentrate on Pages’ rivalry of relaying indicators).
“No, I don’t assume it was intentional,” Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts stated. “It simply by no means feels good to get hit on the arm by 100 [mph], so I feel Andy was simply extra annoyed. I don’t assume there was intent behind it, and it received 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 have been issued.
“It’s simply: He had the response, and as soon as the response takes place, we’re going to verify all people’s calm,” Shildt stated.
On this occasion, calmness prevailed. That’s not all the time 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 collection.
This yr, the Padres once more look 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, wouldn’t it shock anyone if the Padres and Dodgers have been to fulfill in October for a fourth time in six years?
If that’s the case, Monday’s fourth inning should 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, hanging out the primary 5 Dodgers he’d confronted and reeling off 18 fastballs at 99 mph or tougher 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 instances within the body. Regardless of the electrical stuff, Stop completed having allowed six earned runs throughout 5 innings.
“You surrender that many runs,” he stated, “you don’t actually give your group probability.”
