Dalton Rushing had an eventful night in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ walk-off win over the Colorado Rockies on Monday as he not only delivered the game-winning hit, but also was involved in a dust-up with Cole Carrigg.
The incident occurred in the top of the 10th inning, when Carrigg scored the go-ahead run on a close play at the plate. The 24-year-old awkwardly slid past the tag after clipping Rushing’s leg and making contact with home-plate umpire Dan Iassogna.
Carrigg shouted something out of frustration while walking back to the dugout, which he later revealed was directed at Iassogna. However, Rushing believed that Carrigg’s words were intended for him, leading to a back-and-forth and both benches temporarily clearing.
“I think that what happened is Carrigg said something aloud, not directed at Dalton. Dalton thought something was directed at him, and then we cleared the air. Basically, a big misunderstanding,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after the game.
Rushing has been in the spotlight this season for several incidents involving the Rockies, San Francisco Giants and Chicago Cubs. More recently, he was involved in a viral moment with Shohei Ohtani over a disagreement on the field.
“Well, I think the scrutiny, that was just one thing in the sense of early parts, I think that we’ve nipped that, some of the emotions that he’s had,” Roberts explained.
“Obviously, a couple of weeks ago with the Shohei thing that we cleaned up. And then outside of that, he’s just been playing good baseball. So I’m very happy that he’s minding his pitchers, doing his job, and then also offensively, he’s really, really on a nice run.”
Aside from the aforementioned spats, Rushing has been a pleasant surprise for the Dodgers this season. He’s in the midst of a career year and has especially thrived since being elevated to starting catcher with Will Smith on the 10-day injured list.
Dalton Rushing downplays incident with Cole Carrigg
Rushing echoed Roberts’s sentiment and believes his brief altercation with Carrigg was nothing more than a misunderstanding.
“It was a little back and forth,” Rushing began. “I think it was just the competitive nature of the game. You’re making a play on the ball, take it the wrong way, and like I said, I didn’t mean any harm by the tag or the way I reacted to the ball. I made sure he knew that. I told him I was just reacting to the baseball, and I don’t plan on it going any further.”
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