Tossed balls from stands, apparently aimed at Profar, interrupt Padres' win in NLDS Game 2
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Tempers flared on the field and in the stands at Dodger Stadium, with rowdy fans tossing baseballs, apparently at San Diego left fielder Jurickson Profar, and then trash that caused a 12-minute wait between pitches during the seventh inning of the Padres' 10-2 win in NL Division Series Game 2 on Sunday night.
“That's just not acceptable,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said.
There were words exchanged between Dodgers starter Jack Flaherty and Padres slugger Manny Machado, who took exception to Flaherty hitting Fernando Tatis Jr.
“Well, shoot, I’ve seen over a thousand games here, well over a thousand games in this ballpark, and I’ve never seen anything like that,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “It was ugly.”
Profar had robbed Mookie Betts of a home run in the first inning, reaching into the stands behind the low left-field wall. Left field umpire Adrian Johnson circled his arm signaling a home run.
But Profar battled the outstretched arms of fans, reeling in the ball on the webbing of his glove and helping spark the Padres to evening the best-of-five series at one game each.
“He tried," Profar said of a fan who tried to snatch the ball. "I dunked on him.”
Profar hopped away backward as he stared at the astonished fans, then threw the ball to the infield. Later, there were verbal exchanges between fans and Profar.
“He said the fans out there were trying to get it out of his glove,” Padres slugger Manny Machado said. “What a hell of a catch to start off the game."
With San Diego leading 4-1 and Yu Darvish warming up for the bottom of the seventh, fans appeared to be yelling at Profar, who motioned back at them with his right arm.
A couple of balls were thrown. Johnson came up to him, soon joined by Shildt, San Diego players and more umpires. Profar yelled and pointed before teammate Xander Bogaerts put an arm around him and Padres players, including Darvish, formed a huddle.
“Yes, I was upset. You can hurt somebody,” Profar said. “I hope our people in San Diego don’t do that.”
Profar said Dodgers fans “wanted to start throwing stuff on the field yesterday.”
Roberts said, "Obviously there’s a lot of emotions and things like that. But that’s something that should never happen.”
Dodgers security staff attempted to identify the fans who caused the trouble. Officer Drake Madison, an LAPD spokesperson, said “there were no arrests and no radio calls.”
“We were looking for a higher security presence out in the left-field corner to ensure that that behavior didn’t continue and to make sure that if anybody did throw anything out on the field they would be identified immediately and removed from the stadium,” umpire crew chief Dan Bellino said.
Public address announcer Todd Leitz told the crowd: “We ask that you do not throw objects onto the field.”
“You’re in a tough environment,” Machado said. “You’re going to get some things said to you but once you start throwing things onto the field that’s just uncalled for.”
There was trash on the warning track in right field near the Padres bullpen.
“Now we had a second instance that was happening at a different part of the stadium, so we just had to reiterate with security that we needed an enhanced security out in right field as well,” Bellino said.
After the seventh inning, Machado gathered his teammates for a brief meeting in their dugout.
Machado said his message was “just stay focused.”
Flaherty hit Tatis with a pitch in the sixth inning, and Profar exchanged words with Dodgers catcher Will Smith.
“You can’t get him out, don’t hit him,” Machado said. “They got the best player in the game, (Shohei) Ohtani. We don’t go out there and try to hit Ohtani. We try to get him out.”
Flaherty struck Machado out swinging with Tatis and another runner on in the sixth.
“He did some s—- in between innings. He threw a ball at our dugout,” Flaherty said. “There was no reason for that.”
Asked about Flaherty's accusation, Machado said, “I throw balls all the time into dugouts. Both dugouts. They have bad balls, you throw the ball back in there.”
Bellino said the situation never escalated to the point umpires considered directing players off the field.
“We would not hesitate to do that if we thought that their safety was in jeopardy,” he said. “And if that was to proceed, then obviously it would be referred to the commissioner’s pffice to see if a potential forfeit would be called for.”
The best-of-five series moves to Petco Park for Game 3 on Tuesday.
“We’re about to go back to San Diego with a very, very loud, raucous, aggressive, hungry crowd that’s going to be super-excited and going to be getting after it,” Shildt said, before borrowing a line from the Will Ferrell comedy “Anchorman.”
“But I know also that we’ll stay classy, San Diego.”
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