Greinke breaks collarbone in brawl
SAN DIEGO -- Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke suffered a fractured left collarbone during a bench-clearing brawl in a 3-2 Dodgers victory over the San Diego Padres on Thursday night at Petco Park.
The right-hander is likely to be out six to eight weeks.
Greinke hit Padres slugger Carlos Quentin in the left shoulder with a pitch on a full count with no outs in the sixth inning. Quentin charged the mound, where the smaller Greinke tried to tackle him. Instead, Greinke bounced off-balance after the collision before Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis grabbed Quentin from behind and wrestled him to the ground. The benches and bullpens from both teams cleared.
Quentin had returned to the Padres' lineup after missing Wednesday's game after being hit by a pitch from Dodgers reliever Ronald Belisario on Tuesday.
After order appeared to be restored, tempers flared again when Dodgers utility player Jerry Hairston Jr., a former Padre, stormed out of the dugout and raced across the field before being restrained. Matt Kemp also had to be restrained after he started shouting at the Padres.
Kemp and Hairston, along with Quentin, were ejected. Greinke left the game with the injury to his non-throwing shoulder.
Afterwards, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly did not mince words when asked about Quentin's actions.
"It's a 2-1 game and a 3-and-2 pitch to a guy who, I saw on the message board, set a Padres record for getting hit by pitches," Mattingly said of Quentin, who has been hit by pitches 116 times in his career and has led the majors in that category the past two seasons. "He should not play a game before Greinke can pitch. He caused the whole thing. Nothing happens if he goes to first base. Not one person on their team thought (Greinke) was throwing at him.
"That shows zero understanding of the game of baseball. He's not trying to hit him at 3-2 in a 2-1 game."
Greinke said, "I never hit him on purpose. I never even thought about hitting him on purpose. He always seems to think I'm hitting him on purpose, and that's not the case. That's all I have to say."
The brawl seemed to briefly light a fire under the Padres. Chris Capuano relieved Greinke and gave up an RBI single to Yonder Alonso, scoring Alexi Amarista, to tie the score at 2. The run was charged to Greinke, who allowed two on five hits in five-plus innings, striking out four and walking one on 88 pitches.
Juan Uribe hit a game-winning home run in the eighth inning to seal the win. Uribe's shot to left came off reliever Luke Gregerson on a 3-2 pitch in the eighth. It was Uribe's second pinch-hit homer but the first since 2004. It also was his second home of the series.
The two teams start a three-game series in L.A. on Monday.
Adrian Gonzalez tagged Marquis for a two-run homer in the first to stake L.A. to an early lead. It was the first time Gonzalez had homered against his former club in 12 games. He jumped on a 2-0 pitch from Marquis and smacked it into the right-field bleachers.
The Padres got on the board in the fourth, when Jedd Gyorko, who walked and advanced to third on Nick Hundley's base hit, scored on a wild pitch by Greinke with two out to slice the lead to 2-1. Greinke, though, retired Cameron Maybin on a groundout to short, keeping the damage to a minimum.
Marquis found himself pitching out of jams as the Dodgers stranded eight runners in the first four innings. Marquis gave up seven hits and walked three during that stretch.
NOTES: Gonzalez has hit in all 12 games against the Padres, his former club. Gonzalez, who played in San Diego from 2006 through 2010 before being traded to Boston, was hitting .468 (22-for-47) with two doubles, six runs and 11 RBIs before homering in his first at-bat Thursday night. He was hitting .500 with runners in scoring position. ... The Padres have scored more than half of their runs (14 of 26) in the eighth and ninth innings. ... The two clubs resume their series Monday through Wednesday at Dodger Stadium.
