San Diego Padres third baseman Manny Machado lashed out at Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Brusdar Graterol after he celebrated a defensive play that occurred in the seventh inning of Game 2 in the playoff series between the two teams, according to a report from TMZ .
As the Padres trailed by just one point with a runner on second base, Fernando Tatis Jr. swung at the first pitch thrown his way, which was thrown by Los Angeles’ relief pitcher Graterol. Tatis’ hit soared down the center of the field and appeared to be on its way to become a home run. However, the Dodgers center fielder Cody Bellinger leaped up and extended his arm over the fence to snag the ball in midair, which prevented San Diego from scoring and obtaining the lead.
After the impressive catch, Graterol felt he had every reason to express his excitement and did so by throwing his glove and hat up in the air, pointing both fingers up to the sky, and running around the infield, according to a report from Sports Illustrated .
The insane play by Bellinger can be seen here .
Machado, who was standing in the batters box as he was set to be next up at bat, did not appreciate the celebration and did not hesitate to hurl an array of curse words towards Graterol.
“F*ck you!” Machado yelled over and over again while pointing and glaring in Graterol’s direction, according to a video posted on Twitter .
“I’ll be waiting for you!” he also added.
Despite Machado’s obvious frustration, Graterol seemed to be unaffected by the comments, as he blew a kiss toward his opponent’s direction while he smiled. The pitcher received support from a majority of his teammates, as they told Machado to go back to his own dugout and sit down.
L.A.’s outfielder Mookie Betts stated in an interview after the competition that Machado celebrated earlier in the game when he threw his bat after hitting a home run, so it was acceptable for his squad to recognize a good play on their part, too.
“When he hit his home run he threw the bat…Then we take one away, we can celebrate too. So there’s gotta be two sides to it,” he explained.
Machado did get another opportunity to get back at Graterol for talking trash in the next inning, although he quickly grounded out to second.
The high intensity of the matchup has fans looking forward to Game 3, which is scheduled to take place tonight. Los Angeles currently leads 2-0, which is a best-of-five series.