Tempers flare in LA after pitch behind Stanton
Stripling, Mattingly, Geren ejected after scrum in 9th inning
LOS ANGELES -- Dodgers pitcher Thomas Stripling, bench coach Bob Geren and Miami manager Don Mattingly were ejected in the ninth inning of the Dodgers' 7-2 win Friday night after Stripling threw behind Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton.
Stripling's first pitch of the inning sailed behind Stanton in apparent retaliation for Miami reliever A.J. Ramos hitting Brett Eibner with a pitch in the previous inning.
Eibner had homered in the fourth inning and was drilled in the ribs by Ramos after Cody Bellinger slugged the third home run of the night for the Dodgers to extend their lead to 7-0. Home-plate umpire Carlos Torres immediately ejected Stripling when the pitch buzzed behind Stanton and both benches emptied.
The focus of the ensuing scrum was on an enraged Mattingly and Geren.
Geren did not speak to reporters after the game, but the Dodgers that did kept to the traditional script following such incidents.
"Just a first-pitch fastball in and it got away from me," said Stripling, who called his first ejection a "bucket-list thing."
"Things got heated, that kind of stuff happens in baseball and everyone comes out and supports your teammates and you just keep playing," Stripling said.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was annoyed that Torres, in his first full season as an MLB umpire, ejected Stripling even though no warnings had been issued when Ramos hit Eibner.
"Ramos, the ball got away from him on the arm side and same thing with our guy," said Roberts. "Benches cleared, things were taken care of. I'm just happy we won a game. But there were no warnings. For our guy to miss one arm side, I was surprised Ross got ejected."
Ramos said the he was not intentionally throwing at Eibner. It was his first appearance since Sunday.
"You saw the at-bats before, I missed some balls up and in," Ramos said. "I haven't been on the mound in five days. Ball was going all over the place, didn't have the control that I wanted. Obviously, [it was a] frustrated pitch. I'm trying to throw it hard to low and away and it got away from me, and that's it. I wasn't trying to hit him on purpose, but I guess they had a problem with that."
Ramos said the Dodgers did not approach him with any concerns during the fracas on the field.
"I was out there in the middle of that, no one said anything to me," Ramos said. "If they had such a problem, they could have came at me right there, I was right in the middle of it."
Stanton declined to speak to the media after the game.
Mattingly took issue with the Dodgers swinging in 3-0 counts with a five-run lead late in the game.
"It's one of those pitches, you give up a homer and a guy gets hit, it looks bad," Mattingly said. "But, also, they're up 5-0, and swinging 3-0, if we want to actually count stuff. If you're going to swing 3-0 when we've got six outs left, they got their guy out in the bullpen. They can say it however they want it, but when you swing 3-0, up 5-0 going into the eighth, you can put it however you want."
Does Mattingly think there will be any carryover into Saturday's game?
"Who knows? You never know what happens," he said. "It should be something that's over. I don't see it really carrying over or there being any reason. They got hit, they throw a ball behind Stanton, they swing 3-0, whatever they do, whatever happens at that point, just move on."