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Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts opened up about San Diego Padres third baseman Manny Machado’s decision to throw the ball into the Los Angeles dugout during Game 2 of the Divisional Series.
“I didn’t pay attention to it at the time,” Roberts said Monday. jack harris of Los Angeles Times“I didn’t really do it. I didn’t pay attention to it. I saw the video. And it was disturbing. … If it was intended for me, I would be very offended – it’s very disrespectful.”
Dodgers pitcher Jack Flaherty took notice and went back and forth with Machado during the game:
Flaherty and Machado each spoke Speaking to reporters after the game about their conversation, he said it happened because the right-hander hit Fernando Tatis Jr. with a pitch.
“When you try to hit our best hitter, strike him out. You can’t strike him out, don’t strike him out, okay?” Machado said. “They’ve got the best player in the game, right? (Shohei) Ohtani. We don’t go out there and try to kill Ohtani. We try to get him, right? Don’t go out there and try to kill my guy. do it .”
For his part, Flaherty said that he did not intentionally hit Tatis but that he was screaming because of the ball being thrown.
“He did some things in between innings where he threw the ball over to our dugout and everybody catches the end of it, that’s me and him going at it,” he said. “I was sitting there rooting for my team, I wasn’t going to go near him, but he was throwing the ball into our dugout and the umpire immediately went to tell him – don’t know what conversation happened there, but fired our dugout. Went up because there’s no reason for it.”
It was all part of a heated start to the series, as was Sunday’s Game 2 delayed when Dodgers fans threw objects from the crowd at outfielders Tatis and Jurickson Proffer.
The two teams split the first two contests, with Los Angeles winning the first after Ohtani’s three-run homer. However, the Padres bounced back with a 10–2 victory in Sunday’s contest.
San Diego hit six home runs in the win, with Tatis hitting two and David Peralta, Jackson Merrill, Xander Bogaerts and Kyle Higashioka also hitting one each.
There has been no shortage of stories in this series between the two National League West rivals, and Machado has been at the center of some of them. Tensions could rise once again when the series shifts to San Diego for Tuesday’s Game 3 and Wednesday’s Game 4.