The Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks engaged in an ugly brawl Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium, stemming from a vicious bean ball war that saw fastballs hurled at the heads of Yasiel Puig and Zack Greinke of the Dodgers.
The trouble started brewing in the sixth inning, when red-hot Dodgers rookie outfielder Yasiel Puig was hit in the face by an Ian Kennedy pitch. Puig managed to stay in the game, and in the next inning, Greinke plunked Diamondbacks catcher Miguel Montero in the back with a heater, appearing to settle the score.
When the Dodgers came to bat in the seventh, after warnings to both teams had been issued, Greinke was hit with a high pitch near his helmet. Kennedy was thrown out of the game, but the benches cleared.
Kennedy denied any intent when he hit Puig, claiming he wanted to just pitch inside to the rookie who entered the game batting .500. "I thought I got him on the shoulder, but by his reaction, I figure I got him somewhere in the face," Kennedy said. "I definitely did not want to hit a guy with two strikes and put somebody like him on base."
Dodgers manager Don Mattingly seemed like he wasn't buying Kennedy's excuse however. "Puig gets hit in the face, Montero gets hit, it should have been really over at this point." He then added, "If you can't pitch inside without hitting someone in the head, you shouldn't pitch inside."
This incident is the second time this season Greinke has had a central role in a violent eruption on the diamond; the first time was when he broke his collarbone defending himself against a charging Carlos Quentin. He had pitched inside to Quentin, who took offense and bull rushed the mound.
"It got pretty ugly," Montero said. "They came out of nowhere, just throwing punches. When everybody was trying to break it up, they just kept coming and throwing punches. It was like 25 against 72, because all the DL guys were out there, too. I guess their arms were feeling pretty good because they were throwing good punches."
The Dodgers got the last laugh, however, walking away with a 5-3 victory.
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