By The San Diego Padres hit a record-tying six home runs Sunday night to smash the Los Angeles Dodgers 10-2 in a Major League Baseball playoff game marred by fans in Dodger Stadium throwing what appeared to be baseballs, and then trash, at Padres players.
San Diego evened its best-of-five National League Division Series with LA at a game apiece behind the six homers, two of them by right-fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. – one of two Padres outfielders who had objects thrown in their direction in the bottom of the seventh inning.
With the Padres up 4-1 at the time, fans threw baseballs at Padres left-fielder Jurickson Profar while he was warming up in the outfield.
As Padres manager Mike Shildt and players met with umpires, fans started throwing trash onto the outfield grass by Tatis in right field.
The game resumed after about a 10-minute delay from the incident.
“You can hurt someone,” Profar, who appeared visibly upset during the incident, told reporters after the game.
“You don’t do that. It’s not the way,” the Padres’ outfielder said in an interview shown on ESPN.
Shildt called the fan behavior “unacceptable,” but he praised his players for their response.
“We’re going to talk with our play; we’re not going to back down; we’re going to elevate our game; we’re going to be together; and we’re going to take care of business,” he said.
Tatis, who hit homers in the first and ninth innings, called the Dodger Stadium environment “wild” but said throwing objects onto the field was not appropriate.
“I felt like that should not be happening in a big league game,” Tatis said. “But at the same time, it’s a good environment for baseball, although people get carried away a little bit with their emotions. But it’s a good back and forth.
“At the end of the day, it’s a show, and we should enjoy every moment.”
Shildt, the Padres’ skipper, said he expects better behavior from fans in San Diego when the series moves there on Tuesday evening.
“We’re about to go back to San Diego with a very, very loud, raucous, aggressive, hungry crowd that’s going to be super excited and going to be getting after it. But I know also that we’ll stay classy, San Diego,” Shildt said.
The Padres’ six home runs on Sunday night tied the MLB playoff record set by the Philadelphia Phillies last year and the Chicago Cubs in 2015.
Tatis got the Padres on the board early, and his solo shot was quickly followed up by a two-run homer from David Peralta in the top of the second.
Dodgers second baseman Gavin Lux hit back with a sac fly in the bottom of the second, but the Padres’ lead was opened up again by Jackson Merrill, first with an RBI single in the sixth and later with a two-run home run in the eighth.
Things quickly got out of hand for Los Angeles as Bogaerts and Kyle Higashioka both hit solo shots before Tatis went deep again to tie the playoff record.
