Dodgers, Padres let sparks fly, as Ohtani, Tatis on receiving end of hit by pitches

New York Times

4 hours ago

LOS ANGELES — It took five games between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres in the span of eight days for old bitterness to come through.
The division rivals, who have met in the postseason in three of the last five seasons, exchanged hit by pitches in the third inning of Tuesday night's game that saw Fernando Tatis Jr. and Shohei Ohtani as the recipients and led Dodgers manager Dave Roberts to an ejection after a tirade once both benches had been warned.
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History trickled into the bitterness between the two sides.
Last October's hotly contested National League Division Series featured at least one public spat between player and manager — Roberts accused Manny Machado of throwing a baseball in 'unsettling' fashion in his direction — and included at least one on-field delay when fans threw garbage onto the field at Dodger Stadium, egged on in part by Tatis and then-Padres outfielder Jurickson Profar.
That bitterness colored some of Andy Pages' reaction on Monday night when the Dodgers outfielder had words for Padres right-hander Dylan Cease when he was hit with a 98 mph fastball on the left elbow guard in the fourth inning. Pages maintained postgame that he thought Cease hit him intentionally, perhaps because the Padres thought he was relaying Cease's signs from second base after doubling in the third.
'They thought I was relaying signs when I was jumping at second base, I think,' Pages said in Spanish. 'It's impossible that he can't miss a slider on the corner and he missed a fastball a strike zone inside.
'I don't think it was the right way to react. But like I told him, there are things you don't really see sometimes. I told him I reacted on adrenaline. What happened, happened. I tried to find a way to apologize.'
Meanwhile, inside the visiting clubhouse, Cease said he did not understand Pages' reaction. While television cameras appeared to show Padres manager Mike Shildt yelling something in his direction, Pages said he didn't hear anything.
'It's not going to deter me from throwing inside,' Cease said. 'I don't know if I've ever hit a Dodger before. You know, it just happens. It's part of the game.'
Padres star third baseman Manny Machado expressed similar confusion.
'I mean, they got way more superstars over there,' Machado said. 'If we want to hit somebody, well, they got some big dogs over there we can hit. … He's having a hell of a year, and he's going to continue to have a hall of a year, and I'm rooting for him. But, yeah, man, it's just part of the game. It's no big deal.'
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According to Statcast, Cease threw 46 fastballs. Almost all of them were either over the plate or to his glove side. The lone exception was the 97.7 mph pitch that clipped Pages.
Roberts downplayed the hit by pitch on Monday night, saying he didn't believe it was intentional.
Tempers flared up anyways.
After Martín Maldonado led off the third with a double off the wall, Tatis showed bunt against Dodgers reliever Lou Trivino and fouled it off. Trivino went up and in with a 95 mph sinker that hit Tatis in the back. The Padres outfielder didn't show any outward frustration, taking off his gear and trotting to first base.
When Ohtani came up the following half-inning, he was greeted with a 94 mph sinker in on his shins from Padres starter Randy Vásquez that Ohtani backed out of the way of. He threw his next 94 mph sinker even more up and inside, catching Ohtani flush on the back of the right thigh.
Here's where Dave Roberts got ejected. It was Tripp Gibson who tossed him for, it seemed, coming out to argue about the warning
Can't remember many times Roberts looked more upset with a specific umpire than he did with Gibson tonight https://t.co/6JFjjaiuRv pic.twitter.com/muJrZIxeof
— Jack Harris (@ByJackHarris) June 18, 2025
As the umpiring crew huddled to discuss warnings, Roberts sprung from the bench, arms out wide in disbelief. The Dodgers manager only got more animated when crew chief Marvin Hudson signaled that both benches had been warned. By the end of an argument that lasted at least a couple minutes, Roberts had been ejected for the 13th time in his managerial career. His ejection came at the hands of third-base umpire Tripp Gibson.
Roberts received an ovation as he returned to the dugout and boos rained down on the umpiring crew as he descended down the tunnel.
Pages, for his part, channeled whatever frustration he might have had Monday night into a productive night on Tuesday, homering in each of his first two at-bats for the first regular-season multi-homer game of his career (Pages did have a two-homer game last October). On the second one, which tied the game at 3-3, Pages carried the bat halfway up the first-base line before dropping it and trotting around the bases.