Dave Roberts had made it only three steps out of the dugout when he got ejected Tuesday night.
So, before he went back, the Dodgers manager made sure to get his money’s worth.
On a contentious night that saw two superstars get hit by pitches, both dugouts receive umpire warnings, and the Dodgers eventually beat the San Diego Padres 8-6 at Dodger Stadium, tensions reached their boiling point in the bottom of the third inning.
And it was the usually even-keeled Roberts who most visibly lost his cool.
After Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr. was hit by a pitch in the top of the third inning by Dodgers reliever Lou Trivino, reigning National League MVP Shohei Ohtani was hit in the leg with one out in the bottom half of the inning.
Unlike Tatis’ hit by pitch, which came with a runner in scoring position in an inning that saw the Padres score two runs, Ohtani’s plunking occurred amid more suspicious circumstances.
With one out and nobody on base, Padres starter Randy Vásquez threw an inside, knee-high heater for ball one, brushing Ohtani back off the plate. With his next pitch, Vásquez fired it even more inside, pelting Ohtani’s right thigh with a 94 mph fastball.
Immediately, the umpires gathered for a meeting.
Some context: In the opening game of this week’s series on Monday night, tempers flared when Andy Pages was hit by a Dylan Cease pitch, and immediately stared at the Padres pitcher. Pages told reporters afterward he believed the throw was on purpose, perhaps because the Padres thought he had been relaying signs from second base a few innings before. Roberts, however, downplayed any potential intentionality. Rather than fan the flames of a recently intense division rival, he advocated for calm.
Things changed after the umpires finished talking on Tuesday.
Crew chief Marvin Hudson emerged from the huddle and issued warnings to both dugouts. Roberts immediately asked for an explanation, raising his arms in confusion as he started onto the field.
Hudson motioned to Roberts to stay put. But when he didn’t, third base umpire Tripp Gibson did the honors of ejecting him from the game.
Some more context: The Dodgers and Gibson have already had one run-in this season, when the umpire assessed a rarely seen obstruction call against third baseman Max Muncy in New York last month for stepping into a baserunner’s line of sight on a sacrifice fly play.
How much that bad blood carried over wasn’t immediately clear. But Roberts’ fury with Gibson for Tuesday’s ejection certainly was, with the manager angrily pointing at him multiple times during a two-minute argument on the field while Hudson tried to keep the two physically separated.
It was Roberts’ first ejection this season, and the 13th in his career as Dodgers manager.
And, on a strange night at Chavez Ravine, plenty more peculiarities would follow.
Pages took out whatever frustrations were lingering from Monday’s game with a monster four-hit night. He belted a go-ahead home run in the bottom of the second inning. He launched a tying shot in the fourth. Then, after Will Smith put the Dodgers in front with a two-run homer at the end of a 12-pitch at-bat, Pages added an RBI single in what became a five-run sixth-inning rally, catapulting the team to an 8-3 lead.
The Dodgers (45-29) almost gave the lead back in the seventh, in another inning that featured a couple of controversial umpire decisions.
First, Dodgers reliever Matt Sauer hit Padres shortstop Jose Iglesias with a pitch, but was not ejected — despite Manny Machado taking a couple steps out of the dugout to yell at the umpires, given their earlier warnings.
It ended up not mattering, with Trenton Brooks coming off the bench for a pinch-hit home run in the next at-bat.
Then, the Padres (39-33) caught a break when Tatis was initially called out on a fielder’s choice play at second base, only for home plate umpire Ryan Blakney to intervene.
Tatis had initially slid in safely when shortstop Mookie Betts dropped a flip throw from second baseman Tommy Edman, who made an impressive diving stop in the hole. As Betts retrieved the loose ball, however, Tatis stepped off the bag, apparently thinking time had been called. Betts quickly tagged him, and Hudson, the second base umpire, called him out. But moments before the tag, Blakney had called time from behind home plate, to the chagrin of Smith.
Tatis was allowed to stay on second, and eventually came around to score when Michael Kopech entered the game and stumbled on a throw with the bases loaded, resulting in a run-scoring balk.
Kopech, however, got Xander Bogaerts to ground out and retire the side. And from there, the Dodgers held on, with Anthony Banda stranding the bases loaded in the eighth and Tanner Scott (pitching a third-straight day for the first time this season) collecting his 14th save.
Now, the Dodgers have taken the first two games of a four-game series that has already included plenty of emotional fireworks. And two more nights of emotionally charged rivalry baseball are still left.