Flaherty, Machado exchange words after strikeout
Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Jack Flaherty and San Diego Padres third baseman Manny Machado had words following a strikeout in the top of the sixth inning during Game 2 of the NLDS.
Jack Flaherty had some words for Manny Machado after he struck him out
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 7, 2024
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Flaherty appeared frustrated after he didn't get a called strike three on Machado. He proceeded to strike him out swinging on the next pitch.
"I was fired up after getting Manny out," Flaherty said postgame. "It was a big spot in the playoffs. That's what happens. I was fired up, oh well."
Flaherty was removed from the game following the at-bat, but the two continued to trade barbs in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Jack Flaherty and Manny Machado are still chirping at each other 😳 pic.twitter.com/CsCa3wqVe4
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Flaherty added: "He did some shit in between innings where he tries to throw a ball at our dugout, and everybody kinda catches the tail end of it, which is me and him going at it. ... The umpires went over immediately. ... Our dugout was fired up 'cause there's no reason for that."
Machado chalked up the exchange to the heat of a postseason series between rivals.
"I throw balls all the time into dugouts. Both dugouts. They have bad balls, you throw the ball back in there," Machado explained.
He added: "It's a competition. He wants to win, I want to win. I'm doing it for my team, he's doing it for his organization. It's a competition that once you put on that uniform, you step between those lines, it's a battle."
On Jack Flaherty's HBP of Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado said, "He tried to hit our best hitter."
— AJ Cassavell (@AJCassavell) October 7, 2024
Added: "If you can't get him out, don't hit him, right? They got the best player in the game, right? Ohtani? We don't go out there and try to hit Ohtani. We try to get him out."
Machado and Flaherty weren't the only players to exchange words, as Jurickson Profar and Will Smith appeared to trade barbs after Fernando Tatis Jr. was hit by a pitch to start the top of the sixth inning, according to MLB.com's Juan Toribio.
Smith called Profar "kind of irrelevant" following a game between the two clubs in April after Profar took exception to an inside fastball, leading to both benches clearing.