The lesson from Tuesday's Dodgers-Diamondbacks game: If you hit rookie phenom Yasiel Puig in the face with a pitch, things are going to get ugly.
Puig was beaned by Arizona Diamondbacks starter Ian Kennedy in the sixth inning, setting off a series of confrontations between the two teams that led to two more hit batters, two bench-clearing skirmishes and five ejections. Also in the middle of the drama: Dodgers pitcher Zank Greinke, who famously pegged Carlos Quentin of the San Diego Padres, starting a brawl between those two teams in April.
After Puig was hit — which was a scary moment, no doubt about it — he stayed in the game. If things had stopped there, we'd simply be celebrating his toughness. Instead, Greinke pegged D-backs catcher Miguel Montero in the next inning. Benches cleared, but nothing really happened. A little bit of shoving, but nothing more than what we saw Monday night in the Red Sox-Rays game.
When Greinke came out to bat in the bottom of the seventh, it was a curious move. Dodgers manager Don Mattingly had to sense that retaliation might be coming. Greinke had already missed a good chunk of time this season after getting injured in the previous brawl. Sure enough, Kennedy hit Greinke and the benches cleared again. Cue the video:
As you can see, this wasn't on the level of Padres-Dodgers brawl, but there were some heated moments:
• Puig in the middle of the fray, showing he was ready to fight for the team he's been with only a week.
• Mark McGwire and Matt Williams holding each other tight and McGwire looked like he was ready to change from Bruce Banner to the Incredible Hulk at one moment.
• D-backs first-base coach Turner Ward getting a whooping. When it was over, Puig, Mattingly, Kennedy, Turner and D-backs manager Kirk Gibson were ejected.
The Dodgers' Twitter account, which trolled the Padres hard during their fight, threw itself into the (virtual) mix this time too, with a nod to Gibson and the D-backs' "gritty" reputation:
Zack Greinke is gritty.
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 12, 2013
Oh, and the game? It was tied 2-2 when all the drama went down. The D-backs scored once in the top of the eighth, but the Dodgers responded with three in the bottom of the eighth on a Tim Federowicz double to eventually win 5-3. There were no more confrontations, although Dodgers second baseman Mark Ellis was hit in the bottom of the eighth. Everybody stayed in their dugouts that time.
Baseball season's in full swing. Don't miss a thing.
Follow @MikeOz and @bigleaguestew, on Twitter, along with the BLS Facebook page.
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