Throughout Recreation 2 of the Nationwide League Division Sequence on Sunday night time, San Diego Padres third baseman Manny Machado threw a ball towards the Dodgers dugout between innings that nearly hit supervisor Dave Roberts.
Roberts advised reporters Monday he didn’t discover the throw on the time however later noticed a video of the incident, calling it “unsettling.”
“I don’t know his intent. I don’t need to converse for him,” Roberts mentioned. “However I did see the video. And the ball was directed at me with one thing behind it.”
The sequence passed off earlier than the underside of the sixth inning, after Dodgers beginning pitcher Jack Flaherty struck out Machado the half-inning earlier than and shouted expletives towards the Padres star on his means again to the dugout.
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In line with individuals who witnessed the play, Machado’s throw towards the Dodgers dugout got here because the Padres had been warming up defensively for the underside half of the inning. Machado allegedly threw the ball with some zip, one-hopping it into the wall of netting defending the dugout, close to the place Roberts was sitting.
A video of the incident obtained by the San Diego Union-Tribune confirmed that Machado launched the throw from the infield grass between second and third base. Roberts was trying down at his lineup sheet when it crashed into the netting in entrance of him.
Though Machado admitted after Sunday’s sport he did throw a ball towards the Dodgers dugout, he framed it as a routine toss supposed for a ball boy.
“I throw balls on a regular basis into the dugouts, each dugouts,” Machado mentioned. “I imply they’ve foul balls, you realize, you throw the ball again in there.”
On Monday, Machado gave this remark concerning the scenario, in accordance with the San Diego Union Tribune.
“I spoke about this final night time after the sport,” he mentioned. “I’ve already turned the web page, and I’m simply trying ahead to enjoying in entrance of our followers tomorrow and making ready for an additional powerful battle towards an excellent staff.”
Roberts mentioned if Machado had been deliberately focusing on him with the throw, “it’s fairly disrespectful.”
Roberts beforehand managed Machado with the Dodgers in 2018, after the staff acquired him on the commerce deadline. Machado then signed with the Padres the next offseason as a free agent.
“Clearly, I’ve a relationship with Manny from years previous,” Roberts mentioned.
After Machado’s throw, he was approached by third base umpire Tripp Gibson. The 2 had a short dialog, throughout which Machado threw his arm round Gibson’s shoulder.
Did Roberts really feel Machado ought to have been ejected from the sport?
“I do not suppose they need to have had a little bit arm-around-each-other dialog,” Roberts answered, alluding to Machado’s interplay with Gibson. “If gamers can throw balls at opposing managers, you realize …”
The confrontation with Machado initially began within the prime of the sixth, after Flaherty hit Fernando Tatis Jr. with a sinker to steer off the inning.
Flaherty mentioned he didn’t plunk Tatis on goal, noting that it was solely a two-run sport at that time. Tatis, who homered and doubled off Flaherty earlier within the sport, didn’t appear to suppose it was intentional, both, saying postgame it’s “an excessive amount of of an vital collection simply to be throwing at guys.”
Machado, nonetheless, noticed issues in another way.
“He tried to hit our greatest hitter,” Machado mentioned postgame. “Get him out. If you cannot get him out, do not hit him. Proper? They bought the most effective participant within the sport, proper? Ohtani? We do not go on the market and attempt to hit Ohtani. We attempt to get him out. Do not go on the market and attempt to hit my man.”
After Tatis bought hit, Machado walked out to the on-deck circle and commenced “chirping” at Flaherty, in accordance with Roberts. At that time, Roberts mentioned he “checked out [Machado] and shook my head, making a degree that we would not hit him on goal to steer off an inning being down two runs.”
When Flaherty struck Machado out a number of moments later, he appeared to shout at Machado to “sit the [expletive] down.”
“I simply want issues did not get out of hand between me and him,” Flaherty mentioned Monday, after Roberts mentioned the play in his off-day information convention. “I simply want I might have held it collectively a little bit bit higher after, you realize, an emotion-filled sport.”
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As an alternative, tempers solely flared additional as soon as Machado threw the ball.
Broadcast cameras confirmed Flaherty yelling at Machado from the dugout shortly earlier than the underside of the sixth started, which Flaherty later mentioned was in response to Machado’s throw. Different Dodgers gamers within the dugout additionally grew animated, together with Teoscar Hernández, who’s seen within the video instantly pointing at Machado from the dugout steps close to Roberts.
On Monday, the consensus amongst many Dodgers staff members was that Machado deliberately threw the ball onerous, disputing his characterization that he merely supposed to toss it to a bat boy.
“How about if that ball went over the dugout and hit somebody?” shortstop Miguel Rojas requested rhetorically.
Main League Baseball has been in contact with the Dodgers’ safety employees and requested their video of the incident, because the Fox broadcast didn’t seize it, in accordance with a number of folks with data of the scenario who weren’t licensed to talk publicly. The Athletic first reported the Dodgers despatched video to the league.
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This story initially appeared in Los Angeles Occasions.
