Last night, tempers flared in game two of the NLDS between the Dodgers and Padres. The proximity of Los Angeles and San Diego has created one of the greatest rivalries the sport has to offer, but last night things escalated even higher than before.
Players and fans alike made their hatred for the other side known throughout the game. Things started to get heated in the sixth inning when Fernando Tatis Jr. was hit by a pitch. Tatis, who hit the first home run of the game in the first inning, got drilled in the leg.
The pitcher who hit Tatis, Jack Flaherty, faced speculation that this was done purposefully, to which he said, “Look, I missed in the first inning, and I threw the ball over the middle. I wasn’t going to miss over the plate again, I have no reason to hit a guy there to start the sixth…I’m going in for effect, and he didn’t get out of the way and it hit him. I wasn’t trying to go and hit him to try and lead off an inning or anything like that. That doesn’t make any sense. Didn’t go up near his head, nothing. Just trying to push a guy off the plate, and he didn’t get out of the way.”
Later in that inning, Flaherty struck out Manny Machado and then began chirping at him. The two continued to jaw at each other, and things only got worse from there.
In the middle of the seventh inning, a fan in left field threw a ball at Jurickson Profar. Infuriated by the actions of the fans, Profar began to bark back before the left-field umpire got involved and prevented things from escalating any further than that.
When asked about it afterward, Profar said, “I was upset. You can hurt someone,” Profar said. “I hope our people in San Diego don’t do that. I felt safe, but you still don’t do it. It’s not the way…You can yell whatever you want. But throwing stuff, people could get hurt,”
After a ten-minute delay, the game resumed. The Padres came back strong, hitting four home runs, blowing the game open for San Diego, and winning by the final score of 10-2.
Game three will be the first game back in San Diego, and is set to start at 9:08 p.m. EST tomorrow night.
