Game 2 of the NLDS between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres was delayed in the seventh inning after fans threw various objects on the field.
The delay began when someone threw a baseball at Padres left fielder Jurickson Profar. Profar was seen jawing with fans and pointing into the stands before the projectile was thrown at him. The irate outfielder had to be held back and calmed down by umpires, who conferred with the entire Padres team.
“A couple baseballs coming my way. I wasn’t hit, but when you stand on the field like that, and things are thrown at the back of your head, it’s a little scary,” Profar told MLB Network postgame.
Profar had trolled fans in left after robbing a home run from Dodgers star Mookie Betts in the first inning.
As the seventh-inning delay continued, fans in right field began throwing garbage onto the field near Fernando Tatis Jr.
Tatis, who homered in the first inning, playfully responded to fans’ taunts while on defense earlier in the game. He again mocked the crowd while waiting out the seventh-inning delay.
Tatis continued interacting with fans in the dugout during the following half-inning.
Security lined the field during the entire delay in the top of the seventh, which lasted around 12 minutes.
The unruly behavior from Dodgers fans came a few innings after words were exchanged between the Southern California rivals on the field.
The Padres got out of the seventh without allowing any runs. Between innings, third baseman Manny Machado gathered the Padres in the dugout for an impromptu meeting.
A few minutes after the meeting, Jackson Merrill and Xander Bogaerts crushed back-to-back homers en route to a 10-2 Padres victory. The series is now tied at one game apiece ahead of Tuesday’s pivotal Game 3 at Petco Park.
“Both sides know this is a competitive series. We’re going to compete hard. They’re going to compete hard. Things are going to happen. We can leave that on the field,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today. “But as far as anything happening in a stadium like that towards our players, that’s just not acceptable.
“And I know 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.”
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