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Alden Gonzalez
LOS ANGELES — The first pitch Randy Vasquez threw to Shohei Ohtani in Tuesday’s third inning was a fastball low and inside enough to brush him back. The second hit the two-way superstar squarely on his right quad, prompting umpires to issue warnings to both sides and triggering the first ejection of the year for Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.
Vasquez said the pitch, which occurred a half-inning after Fernando tate Jr. was hit by Lou Trivino“wasn’t intentional,” adding that the attack plan against Ohtani was to hammer the fastball inside and Vasquez “didn’t execute the pitch.”
Roberts disagreed.
“Absolutely,” Roberts, speaking after his team’s 8-6 winsaid when asked if he believes Vasquez hit Ohtani on purpose. “He hasn’t come close. For me, if they feel that’s warranted on their side — part of baseball, that’s what they feel. I give him credit because they hit him in the leg. Own it, and we move on. It’s not a misfire. I do feel it was intentional. Again, that’s part of baseball, which we all understand.”
On Monday night, Dodgers center fielder Andy Pages took a fastball to the left elbow guard from Padres starter Dylan Cease and yelled in Cease’s direction. Later, Pages said he felt he was hit on purposeperhaps because the Padres believed he was trying to relay the catcher’s signs from second base earlier in the game.
The following night, Trivino threw an 0-1 sinker with first base open and none out in the top of the third that caught Tatis in the upper back. Tatis, who was also hit by Trivino while leading off a game from Petco Park seven days earlier, was clearly upset but said nothing in Trivino’s direction. He walked slowly to first base, then watched from right field when Ohtani was hit — with none on, one out and the count 1-0 — in the bottom half.
“Just trying to make quality pitches and fight for the inner part of the plate,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said, “and a ball got away from Vasquez.”
But Roberts was irate that his side was warned, then spilled out of the dugout and yelled in the face of third-base umpire Tripp Gibson after he had tossed him.
“I didn’t feel a warning on both sides was warranted,” Roberts said, “so I just wanted to know an explanation. I wanted an explanation on their thought process. I didn’t come in hot. I just wanted to know why; why they issued [the warnings]. I realized later I got tossed, which I didn’t understand or appreciate. Even looking back, to see Mike get the opportunity to talk to umpires after I was tossed and [get] their explanation, and he was still in the game. I think what anyone wants is consistency, right?”
A fourth hit by pitch occurred at the start of the seventh inning, when Dodgers reliever Matt Sauer plunked Padres infielder Jose Iglesias in the left wrist — postgame X-rays were negative — but was not tossed. Manny Machado — who, along with Tatis, left Dodger Stadium before media was allowed in the clubhouse — yelled toward the umpires wondering why Sauer was not tossed. But Shildt said he did not believe that pitch was intentional.
It was nonetheless a flash point in yet another hotly contested matchup between the Padres and Dodgers, two bitter rivals who are near the end of a 10-day stretch in which they face each other seven times.
“I think it’s fantastic,” Shildt said of the tension in this series. “Look, the best part about a rivalry is people are going to bring their best shot. Good news is both teams are bringing it every night. We love it. We can’t do it, but I wish we played them every night.”
On this night, it was Pages who stole the show, going 4-for-4 with two home runs to increase his OPS to .845 and solidify himself as one of the sport’s breakout stars. After Pages reacted angrily to Cease’s hit by pitch on Monday night, cameras caught Shildt yelling, “Who the f— do you think you are?” from his dugout. Later, Machado, while praising Pages’ season, said, “They got way more superstars over there if we want to hit somebody.”
Pages got the last laugh, leading the Dodgers to their fourth win in five games against the Padres this season — with two more to follow over the next two nights.
“I think Andy spoke for himself today,” Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy said. “I think Andy told him who he was today.”
