SAN DIEGO — What began as a competitive series between division rivals ended in a battle charged with tension and incidents. On Thursday night, during the Padres’ 5-3 victory over the Dodgers at Petco Park, the situation reached its peak when Fernando Tatis Jr. was hit by a pitch in the ninth inning, causing both teams to empty the benches.
Tatis, Dominican star from San Diego, was hit by a pitch from reliever Jack Little, the third he has suffered from a Dodgers pitcher this season. The impact forced him to leave the field. Initial X-rays of his right hand were negative, but he will undergo a CT scan and an MRI this Friday to confirm the results.
The Padres manager, Mike Shildt, reacted immediately, storming out of the dugout and confronting Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. The tension escalated and soon both teams invaded the field amid pushing and shouting.
“That’s enough,” Shildt declared after the game. “Intentional or not, I didn’t like it at all.”
Shohei Ohtani gets drilled up and in on a 3-0 pitch with a base open.
The series was marked by a total of eight hit-by-pitches, a number that heightened the tension between the teams from the first game. The incident with Tatis was just the prelude to the next episode: with two outs in the ninth inning, the Venezuelan Padres closer, Robert Suárez, hit Japanese star Shohei Ohtani with a fastball. Although the Dodgers seemed willing to react, Ohtani calmed the spirits with a gesture that prevented the conflict from escalating even further. Suárez was ejected from the game.
The atmosphere in both dugouts reflected frustration and suspicion. Manny Machado, Padres’ third baseman, was direct in his statements: “They need to light a candle for Tatis tomorrow and hope that all the tests come back negative.”
From the Los Angeles side, Dave Roberts was annoyed by the way he was confronted by Shildt: “It didn’t feel good to see Tatis get hit, but when he comes out and is yelling and staring at me, that bothered me. I was just trying to finish the game.”
With the National League West tighter than ever, the drama experienced this week could be just the beginning of an intense rivalry that promises much more in the second half of the season.
