The Los Angeles Dodgers saw their five-game winning streak snapped by the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night, blowing a 2-0 lead in the ninth inning and then eventually falling 3-2 in 11 innings.
The loss did not come without controversy, as with a runner on an no outs in the bottom of the 11th inning, Diamondbacks reliever Archie Bradley appeared to have hit A.J. Pollock in the wrist.
Home-plate umpire Ramon De Jesus ruled the ball hit the knob of the bat and was a foul out. The Dodgers challenged the call, though to no avail. Both Roberts and Pollock maintained after the loss he was hit by a pitch.
Pollock was waiting at first base while the review was happening and had to make his way across the field to the dugout after being ruled out. Apparently, his former teammate didn’t feel that he was running quick enough as Bradley yelled something at Pollock to speed him up.
Then after Bradley completed the save, he turned toward the Dodgers dugout and again started yelling, leading to both benches clearing and plenty of jawing.
It did not escalate to anything more than a shouting match, but after the game, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts explained his club took exception with how Bradley handled the situation.
“You get a guy trying to get off the field, trying to feel his wrist to make sure things are still in place, and then you’ve got a pitcher shooing our guy off. Where A.J. does nothing but play the game the right way,” Roberts said.
“So if there’s a player that takes more time than a pitcher thinks, A.J. is not that guy. Our guys took offense to that. After you get the save, you finish the game and then look at our dugout and pop off? Unnecessary.”
Roberts added that he felt the incident could have been avoided if it were not for Bradley mouthing off. “I just saw something over there where things are getting diffused and then you see another person that’s really trying to instigate. It’s not necessary. I don’t think we instigated anything, to be honest with you.”
The Dodgers and Diamondbacks will still meet two more times in this series and then in a four-game series at Chase Field from Aug. 29-Sept. 1.
Despite Friday night’s loss, the Dodgers still hold a 17-game lead over the Diamondbacks in the National League West.
