Jake Arrieta threatens to 'dent' Todd Frazier's skull following heated exchange

NEW YORK — Now that’s a threat.

Philadelphia Phillies righty Jake Arrieta said he would “put a dent” in New York Mets third baseman Todd Frazier’s skull following their heated exchange in the fifth inning of Saturday night’s game at Citi Field.

Tensions escalated after Arrieta hit Frazier with an 0-1 changeup with one out in the fifth and the Mets trailing the Phillies 4-3.

Frazier, who had also been hit by Phillies righty Vince Velasquez on Friday night — and has now been hit three times in 2019 against Philadelphia — slammed down his bat and appeared to exchange words with Arrieta and Phillies catcher JT Realmuto as he walked toward first base.

Frazier was ultimately ejected by homeplate umpire Tripp Gibson after both benches were warned.

“If Frazier’s not happy about it he can come see me,” Arrieta said. “I’ll put a dent in his skull.”

Frazier left before reporters got in the Mets’ clubhouse and was not available for comment.

“He didn’t say (expletive) to me,” Arrieta said of Frazier. “Talking to the umpire. I’m 25 feet away. He wants to come out here, he can come out here.”

Arrieta said he had never had any problems with Frazier in the past. “We’ve had a pretty good history in the past, but I don’t care about that. If he’s mad, then we can talk about it man to man,” Arrieta said.

Two batters later, Arrieta hit Mets shortstop Amed Rosario with a 1-2 changeup, prompting Mets manager Mickey Callaway to get ejected.

Mets catcher Tomas Nido followed with a two-out, bases-clearing double, which gave the Mets a 6-4 lead and knocked Arrieta out of the game. The Mets went on to beat the Phillies 6-5.

“The reason (Tripp) ran Todd is you can’t argue when they issue warnings. It’s an automatic ejection,” Callaway said. “And he felt that Todd left first base and came to argue whether or not why they put out warnings at that point. And then when I went out there we just got one of our players thrown out (Frazier) and then a guy (Arrieta) hits a batter (Rosario) two batters later and I felt like I needed to protect our players at that point.”

Added Callaway: “(Tripp) didn’t think he (Arrieta) was intentionally throwing at him (Rosario), and I get that part. But I mean we just got one of our guys thrown out because of the whole debacle and then their guy gets to stay in.”

Tensions between the two teams also escalated in April, when Mets righty Jacob Rhame threw a pair of inside pitches to Phillies first baseman Rhys Hoskins that Philadelphia thought were intentional, prompting both dugouts to empty.

Hoskins then homered off Rhame the next day when they faced one another and took his time rounding the bases, needing 34.23 seconds, the longest home run trot in the Statcast Era.