The Arizona Diamondbacks’ come-from-behind win over the Los Angeles Dodgers in extra innings on Friday night had little significance in the National League West standings.
But after the second-place D-Backs closed out the win to trim their gap behind the Dodgers to 17 games, benches cleared and words were exchanged. Arizona’s Archie Bradley and Robbie Ray along with the Dodgers’ A.J. Pollock and manager Dave Roberts were the forefront.
The bitterness spilled over into postgame interviews, with each side blaming the other for starting the postgame fracas, while Ray accused Roberts of putting on a “fake-tough-guy” act.
It will be interesting to see whether any lingering animosity spills into Saturday night’s game as the Dodgers send Kenta Maeda to the mound to face D-Backs rookie left-hander Alex Young.
Young has had a solid start to his Major League career, with a 2.60 ERA and 0.87 WHIP in 34.2 innings thus far. This is his first start against the Dodgers, but he threw 2.1 scoreless innings in relief at Dodger Stadium on July 2.
Maeda seeks to break out from one of the worst slumps of his career. He has an ERA of over 10 in his past three starts, only reaching the fifth inning once in that stretch. Two of those starts have come at home, but Maeda has still posted far better numbers at Dodger Stadium this season than he has on the road.
Maeda has a 4.54 ERA and 1.09 WHIP in his career against the D-Backs.
Pollock, who spent his entire MLB career in Arizona before signing with the Dodgers in free agency last winter, starts in center field for just the fourth time in the last 10 days. Pollock is still nursing groin tightness that has limited him.
Pollock played a role in sparking the dispute with his former team when arguing a foul tip strikeout in the 11th inning. Pollock and the Dodgers claimed the pitch from Bradley hit his wrist, not his bat.
Bradley yelled at Pollock as his former teammate was walking back to the dugout, claiming afterward that he was upset that Pollock was still arguing the call when it was upheld after a replay review. Pollock later brushed off the encounter with Bradley.
Dodgers lineup:
CF: A.J. Pollock
3B: Justin Turner
LF: Kristopher Negron
RF: Cody Bellinger
2B: Max Muncy
1B: Tyler White
SS: Corey Seager
C: Russell Martin
P: Kenta Maeda
Diamondbacks lineup:
CF: Jarrod Dyson
SS: Ketel Marte
3B: Eduardo Escobar
LF: David Peralta
RF: Adam Jones
1B: Jake Lamb
2B: Wilmer Flores
C: Alex Avila
P: Alex Young
