On his strategy to second base on his first residence run Saturday evening, San Diego Padres shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. turned towards his dugout and coated one among his eyes, teasing Los Angeles Dodgers starter Trevor Bauer for often pitching with one eye closed. After crossing residence plate on his second residence run, Tatis imitated a strut popularized by UFC star Conor McGregor — the one Bauer typically deploys after dominant half-innings.
After the sport, which the Dodgers gained 5-4 at Dodger Stadium, Bauer made it a degree to talk out in help of Tatis’ actions.
“I prefer it,” Bauer stated. “I believe that pitchers who’ve that finished to them and react by throwing at folks, or getting upset and hitting folks or no matter — I believe it is fairly gentle. When you hand over a homer, the man ought to have fun it. It is exhausting to hit within the massive leagues.
“So, I am all for it. And I believe it is vital that the sport strikes in that path, and we cease throwing at folks as a result of they celebrated having some success on the sphere.”
Tatis’ two homers — on a chest-high cutter to guide off the sport and on one other cutter that tailed away from the strike zone within the sixth — got here one evening after he homered twice on the 22-year anniversary of his father belting two grand slams in the identical inning from Dodger Stadium.
His celebrations had been a response to Bauer noticeably pitching with one eye closed when he confronted the Padres during spring training, but in addition the way in which Bauer emphatically pounded his chest when he struck out Tatis to punctuate his outing in his first regular-season begin in opposition to the Padres final weekend.
“Payback time,” stated Tatis, the primary participant with back-to-back, two-homer video games in opposition to Cy Younger Award winners, in keeping with Elias Sports activities Bureau analysis. Tatis homered twice off Clayton Kershaw on Friday evening.
“It is simply enjoyable,” Tatis added. “When you are dealing with a man like that — he is doing his stuff, he is having enjoyable on the mound, and once you get him you get him, and also you have fun, too. He is a tough man to take care of.”
Bauer stated he did not see Tatis cup his proper hand over his proper eye as he rounded the bases within the first inning, however he seen gamers within the Padres’ dugout doing it when Tatis homered off him once more later.
Within the fourth, Bauer struck out Eric Hosmer with a curveball and displayed his patented celebration of pulling out an imaginary sword — a “sword” is a well-liked time period for the awkward half-swing hitters produce when fooled badly on pitches. When Hosmer lined a ball again up the center that almost struck Bauer two innings later, he reached first base and did the sword celebration again at him.
“That is what it’s to be a competitor,” Bauer stated. “I am gonna go at you. I am gonna get you generally, and also you’re gonna get me generally. We will have enjoyable, we are able to have fun it whereas we’re nonetheless competing on the highest stage. I simply thought that was vital to notice tonight.”
Earlier than Tatis’ massive evening, Bauer’s archnemesis on the Padres was Manny Machado, who entered batting .632/.696/1.368 in 23 plate appearances in opposition to him. Machado has particularly crushed Bauer’s fastball in recent times, so Bauer as a substitute attacked him solely along with his slider. Bauer threw 13 consecutive sliders in three at-bats in opposition to Machado, producing a groundout and two strikeouts.
On the final one, Machado smiled and nodded his head towards the mound as he walked to the dugout. Requested if the plan was to easily throw sliders till Machado proved he may hit them, Bauer chuckled and stated: “Yeah, principally.”
The Padres and Dodgers will play their seventh sport in opposition to each other in a stretch of 10 days on Sunday evening. The 2 groups have cut up the primary six conferences, with 9 ties and 4 lead modifications all through.
They’ve been separated by two runs or much less in 53 of the 57 innings.
“It has been nice baseball all the way in which round,” Tatis stated. “I really feel like we have been taking part in nice video games, and we’re simply taking the perfect out of one another.”