Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts said it was “bothersome” and “unsettling” that a ball thrown by San Diego third baseman Manny Machado into the Dodgers’ dugout seemed aimed at him during the Padres’ 10-2 victory in Game 2 of their NL Division Series.
Tensions rose on the field and in the stands at Dodger Stadium that night. Several incidents led to Dodgers starter Jack Flaherty and Machado exchanging insults as the Padres tied the series with Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers at 1-1, hitting six home runs.
Two of those home runs were by Fernando Tatis Jr., who was hit by a pitch from Flaherty, which upset Machado. Flaherty also yelled at Machado after striking him out with two runners on base in the sixth inning.
Roberts mentioned that he didn’t see Machado’s throw during the game but later watched a video of it. “It was unsettling. … And the ball was directed at me with something behind it,” he said.
He added that the ball didn’t hit him because of the netting.
“That was very bothersome. If it was intended at me, I would be very — it’s pretty disrespectful,” Roberts said Monday before the Dodgers practiced at Petco Park, where the series will continue in front of a full crowd on Tuesday night.
Third base umpire Tripp Gibson spoke with Machado about the incident, but Roberts said, “I don’t think they should have had a little arm-around-each-other conversation. If players can throw balls at opposing managers, you know.”
Game 2 was delayed for 12 minutes when rowdy fans threw baseballs toward San Diego left fielder Jurickson Profar, followed by trash being tossed onto the field.
Profar had caught a home run hit by Mookie Betts in the first inning, reaching into the stands behind the low left-field wall. He taunted the fans by staring at them and jumping up and down before throwing the ball back to the infield.
Flaherty said on Sunday night, “Machado did some s— in between innings. He threw a ball at our dugout. There was no reason for that.”
When asked about Flaherty’s claim, Machado said, “I throw balls all the time into dugouts. Both dugouts. They have bad balls, you throw the ball back in there.”
Roberts spoke on Monday about an hour after Machado talked briefly with reporters. Flaherty mentioned that he wished he had “held it together a little bit better.”
“It’s the playoffs, man. There’s a lot of emotion,” Flaherty said. “I think it got out of hand yesterday with everybody from me and him to the fans getting involved.
There’s emotion after the punchout, there’s emotion after every home run. I wasn’t trying to direct any of that toward him. I understand them taking offense to Tatis getting hit. We would react the same way if any of our guys got hit.”
“After that happens and he throws a ball, I wish he would have just let it go,” Flaherty added. “The umpires did their job. They stepped in and talked to him. That’s not how I want things to go. We want to keep things on the field and focus on the game.”
Flaherty, who grew up in the Los Angeles area, was traded from Detroit on July 30.
“I’m not trying to be that player that’s going back and forth with somebody in the dugout,” Flaherty said. “I was done. Things were said, it’s hard to hear. We’ve got to do a better job of getting things done on the field.”
The Dodgers will start Walker Buehler, while the Padres will go with Michael King, who struck out 12 in his first playoff start during a 4-0 win in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series against Atlanta.
“It’s good to be able to have a day off, reset, have a workout here shortly. And there’s going to be a lot of emotions tomorrow,” Roberts said.
Roberts grew up in northern San Diego County, played for the Padres for two seasons, and later was on their coaching staff, including serving as interim manager for one game after Bud Black was fired in 2015.
“Part of it is trying to drown out the noise. The other part of it is using it as fuel. So I think that collectively, we’ll be ready to go,” Roberts said.
“I mean, clearly that team over there, they like the villain-type kind of role and they feed off of that,” Roberts said. “So whatever gets us going, the motivation is individually, collectively, to win a baseball game, to win a series.
It’s going to be noisy and rowdy. And it’s up to us to still stay focused and compete and fight.” Profar added, “We love to play baseball and we play with a lot of energy. We’re always trying to win.”
