Manny Machado Calls Out Jack Flaherty for Hitting Fernando Tatis Jr. in Dodgers’ Loss to Padres
The Los Angeles Dodgers dropped Game 2 of the National League Division Series to the San Diego Padres, 10-2. The Dodgers played one of their worst games of the season, and it came at the worst possible time.
The Dodgers offense was cold as it could be, and the Padres offense was quite the opposite. San Diego was hot, recording 10 runs on 13 hits. Six of those 13 hits went for home runs, setting a franchise postseason record.
While the game went off the rails in the later innings, it didn’t lack any drama. Dodgers Game 2 starter and right-handed ace Jack Flaherty got into a bit of a verbal argument with Padres superstar Manny Machado. Machado called out Flaherty after he hit Fernando Tatis Jr. with a pitch during his outing.
“He tried to hit our best hitter,” Machado said.
“If you can’t get him out, don’t hit him, right? They got the best player in the game, right? Ohtani? We don’t go out there and try to hit Ohtani,” he said. “We try to get him out.”
The hit by pitch Machado is referring to occurred in the sixth inning when the Dodgers were trailing 3-1. A pitch hit Tatis. Machado stuck out later in the frame but exchanged words with Flaherty afterward.
After the game, Flaherty denied the allegations that he hit Tatis on purpose.
“Look, I missed in the first inning and I threw the ball over the middle,” Flaherty explained. “I wasn’t going to miss over the plate again. I have no reason to hit a guy there to start off the sixth.”
“I’m going in for effect, and he didn’t get out of the way and it hit him,” Flaherty added.
Tatis told reporters how he and his team respond to being hit by a pitch, especially in an important series like this one.
“There’s too much of an important series just to be throwing at guys,” Tatis said after the game, via Mark Sheldon of MLB.com. “That’s what I understand. That’s what my IQ of baseball is telling me. When he hit me, he just gave me more energy. My boys gave me more energy.”
These two rivals have some bad blood between them, and if it wasn’t evident before Game 2, it sure is now. The ever-so-important Game 3 will be played on Tuesday in San Diego, with a chance for either team to take a commanding 2-1 lead in this best-of-five series. The first pitch will be at 6:08 p.m. PT.
Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
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