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Padres' Mike Shildt on bench-clearing confrontation with Dodgers: ‘I have no regrets'
SAN DIEGO — A day after San Diego Padres manager Mike Shildt and Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts were ejected from a heated series finale, the two men received one-game suspensions they will simultaneously serve Friday night. Major League Baseball announced in a relief that it had handed down the brief bans 'for unsportsmanlike conduct and for contributing to inciting the benches-clearing incident.'
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Shildt, for his part, said he understood the discipline. He also said he did not regret that he played a central part in Thursday's benches-clearing confrontation at Dodger Stadium, where tempers erupted after Padres star right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. was hit by a Dodgers pitcher for the third time in 10 days.
'You always review, and the one thing that I am responsible (for) is making sure we have a clean game,' Shildt said at Petco Park before the Padres' series opener against the Kansas City Royals. 'The circumstances were really challenging this past series. And at the end of the day, I don't regret standing up for a guy that I love in Tati and a team that I love and a city that I love and an organization that I love. So, in that regard, I have no regrets. … As far as my actions, it's not something that you want to do every night or needs to be done hopefully ever again. But appropriate actions for the circumstances were taken, and I don't regret it at all.'
In Thursday's ninth inning and his major-league debut, Dodgers pitcher Jack Little struck Tatis in the right wrist with a 93 mph fastball, sending the outfielder to the ground. Shildt stormed out of the visiting dugout and, after briefly tending to Tatis, continued toward the Dodgers' side of the field, appearing to direct his ire at Roberts. That drew the Dodgers' manager out of his dugout, and the pair soon met on the field. Roberts used his forearm to make contact with Shildt. They were quickly separated, with both dugouts and bullpens pouring into the area near home plate.
The scrum came three days after a series opener in which Dodgers outfielder Andy Pages was plunked and yelled at Padres pitcher Dylan Cease. Pages later said he felt he was hit intentionally. Shildt, in the heat of the moment, was captured on television cameras appearing to yell a pointed message — 'Who the f—k do you think you are?' — at Pages.
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The next night, Dodgers pitcher Lou Trivino — who had hit Tatis early in a June 10 game at Petco Park — again plunked the outfielder. In the subsequent half-inning, Padres pitcher Randy Vásquez plunked Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani, and the umpiring crew issued warnings. Later in the game, Dodgers pitcher Matt Sauer was not ejected after hitting Jose Iglesias in the left wrist.
The resulting tensions carried over into the series finale. Trivino struck outfielder Bryce Johnson in the knee. He came close to hitting Tatis again, prompting Shildt to scream in the pitcher's direction. Then, Little plunked Tatis in the ninth. Chaos ensued and spilled into the bottom of the inning. Padres closer Robert Suarez hit Ohtani with a 100 mph fastball. As he walked to first base, Ohtani waved off his teammates, seemingly preventing a potential brawl.
Friday, MLB announced a three-game suspension for Suarez, who, like Shildt and Roberts, also received an undisclosed fine. Suarez has elected to appeal the suspension.
'I was just coming in to close out that game,' Suarez said through interpreter Pedro Gutiérrez. 'I was never trying to run into trouble or hit anybody. Unfortunately, it happened.'
Meanwhile, further imaging on Tatis' wrist had come back negative. Tatis is in Friday night's lineup, batting leadoff and playing right field.
'The candle worked, man,' Shildt said.
(The previous night, Padres third baseman Manny Machado declared that the Dodgers 'gotta pray' that Tatis had avoided serious injury, suggesting that the Padres' chief rivals 'set up a little candle.')
Shildt supported Suarez's assertion that he did not intend to hit Ohtani. 'There's a strong appeal to lessen' Suarez's suspension, Shildt said. He added he had a 'healthy respect' for the Dodgers, naming such players as Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts and Teoscar Hernández, who sought Shildt out on the field Thursday and defused the anger between the teams.
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Shildt was asked about the fact that Roberts received the same suspension length, despite the latter being the manager who initiated physical contact the previous night.
'The league does their deal. They do a good job,' Shildt said. 'They take all the factors into it. I accept my game (suspension). What they do to anybody else is none of my business, quite honestly.'
Roberts, to Shildt and the Padres, is not just anybody else. During the 2024 National League Division Series, Roberts said it was 'unsettling' that Machado threw a baseball in his vicinity. Later, after the Dodgers rallied from the brink of elimination and went on to win the World Series, Roberts acknowledged that he had used the rhetoric as a diversionary tactic.
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Friday, Shildt was asked if things had become 'personal' between him and Roberts.
'There's some history that's very public with what happened last year with Manny that I took exception to,' Shildt said. 'I handled that very privately. This got to be more public. And it's ultimately about the defense of our team. And anybody that is going to take the steps that I feel are inappropriate against our team, then I will take action. But I'm not a personal guy. I'm not a grudge guy. But I am a foxhole guy.'
(Top photo of Mike Shildt yelling at the Dodgers' dugout after Fernando Tatis was hit by a pitch in the ninth inning of Thursday's game: Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)
