San Diego Padre Shortstop Xander Bogaerts collected four hits, homered and scored three runs as the San Diego Padres beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-3 on Thursday night to avoid a four-game sweep. As outstanding as that performance was, it will be the last thing most fans will remember as the heated rivalry finally hit its boiling point.

The flames were turned up in the bottom of the seventh when Dodger pitcher Lou Trivino hit Padre right fielder Bryce Johnson with a 91-mph cutter. The ball hit Johnson square on the knee and left him unable to continue. The Padres would score in the inning, giving them a 3-0 lead going into the eighth inning.

Luis Arraez led off the eighth inning with a no doubter triple and then scored when Sheets singled to center field. The Padres would tack on another run before the inning was over. 

Having fallen behind 5-0, the Dodgers made several player moves, giving their starters Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Will Smith an early night off. They also brought in pitcher Jack Little, who was making his major league debut. To use a football analogy, the Dodgers were punting on fourth and long.

After striking out Martin Maldonado, Little came inside with a 93-mph four seamer and hit Fernando Tatis Jr. square on the wrist. With that, bedlam ensured.

Padre manager Mike Shildt came blowing out of the dugout, all but stepping over Tatis, who was writing on the ground in pain, barking and pointing at Dodger skipper Dave Roberts. Not backing down, Roberts went out to meet Shildt on the field, body bumping the angry Friar manager as both benches cleared and met around home plate. No punches were thrown, but it was an intense scene. Both Roberts and Shildt were ejected. The Padres were scoreless in the ninth after play resumed.

“Enough is enough,” Shildt said. “Intentional, unintentional, the fact of the matter is I took exception with it.”

Roberts said he “didn’t feel good” about Tatis getting hit again, “that’s the last thing I wanted.” But he did not appreciate Shildt’s reaction directed at him. “I felt that he was trying to make it personal with me, which then I take it personal.”

In the bottom of the ninth, the Dodgers did not just pack it in and were able to notch a couple of runs that brought the remaining crowd back to life.

With two men on base, Dodger designated hitter Shohei Ohtani came to bat representing the tying run. To the surprise of no one, with the count 3-0, Ohtani was hit in the back with a 99-mph heater from Padre reliever Robert Suarez. Before things could get out of control again, and as Dodger players were already scaling the dugout railing, a calm Ohtani turned, held out his hand and gestured for his team to stand down. Moments later, while taking his base, Ohtani approached the San Diego dugout and had a few “friendly” words to share with the entire Padre team.

Yuki Matsui would come on to close the game as Suarez was ejected. A wild pitch from Matsui allowed another run to score, but when Dalton Rushing struck out swinging, the late Dodger charge was thwarted, and the Padres prevailed by a score of 5-3.

Over the past eleven days, the teams met seven times with the Dodgers coming out on top, winning five of those games. 

The Dodgers vs. Padre rivalry will get a chance to cool off for a while until the teams meet up again mid-August, facing each other six times over a ten-day period. 

This quote from Machado will most likely stay in the back of everyone’s minds until they meet again, “Let’s just hope the CT scan comes back negative,” Machado said. “They, (The Dodgers), gotta pray it comes back negative tomorrow. They need to set a little candle up for Tati tomorrow and hope that everything comes back negative.”