The Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Dodgers met Thursday night for the start of their final regular-season series. The teams have gone in drastically opposite directions since the Diamondbacks’ splashy offseason.
Their shocking signing of Zack Greinke was followed by emptying the farm system to trade for Shelby Miller. Neither transaction panned out remotely close to what expectations were. Los Angeles entered play with a five-game lead over the San Francisco Giants in the National League West.
Arizona was last in the division, 21 games back of the Dodgers. Rich Hill’s spotless run since being traded came to an end as Kyle Jensen’s solo home run gave the Diamondbacks a 1-0 lead in the second inning.
Hill was charged with four runs over 5.1 innings of work, but hit was his at-bat in the fifth inning that provided fireworks. After attempting to bunt for a single, Hill yelled in Archie Bradley’s direction.
The two exchanged words and benches cleared:
Nothing came of tension boiling over, and Hill never sought retribution. Bradley was called out on strikes in the bottom half of the inning. The Dodgers and Diamondbacks have history that dates back to the 2013 season.
They brawled at Dodger Stadium during a June game in 2013, and the Dodgers’ celebration in the pool at Chase Field upon clinching the NL West later that season added to the bad blood.
Diamondbacks manager Chip Hale and Dodgers pitching coach Rick Honeycutt exchanged words earlier this season after a series of batters were hit.
