The new feud between the Dodgers and the Padres heats up with the touch ball

Every moment Andy Pages glared at Dylan Cease, the likelihood of Dodge and the Priest breaking out in conflict increased exponentially.

Players from both sides jumped out of the guardrail of the rest area and stared at each other in the dust of the warning area. The two head coaches walked up to the referee. The barn door opens, and the back-up pitchers on both sides prepare to intervene in a potential melee.

And the Sith at the center of the storm? He stood on the pitcher's mound with a bewildered expression. Then he shrugged. Deliberately smashing people? In that situation? Facing the Dodgers' core of the line is about to play?

"I can't understand," Sith said of Pachs' reaction, "and it won't stop me from taking an inside corner. I don't remember if I've ever hit a Dodgers player before (he really didn't). That's what happened. Part of the competition. "

The incident ended up with only the Dodgers getting a free runner — and costing the opponent dearly in the 6-3 win over the Padres at Dodger Stadium. Tensions subsided. The focus of the night was Shohei Ohtani's return to the pitcher mound (and his stellar performance on the batting end).

But hey, don't rule out the possibility of conflict.

After the game, Pachs insisted he believed he had been deliberately touched. He told reporters in Spanish, including ESPN's Alden Gonzalez, that the reason for the smash may have been the Padres' suspicion that he had stolen the code after hitting second base in the opener. But Pachs then hinted that he might be overreacting.

"I'm adrenaline-reactive," he said in Spanish, "and it's happened." I tried to find a chance to apologize. "

The Syth and the rest of the Padres insisted it wasn't intentional, with Manny Machado going further:

"If we really want to smash people, they have more superstar candidates on their side," Machado said, "and they have some big names to target." It's crazy, isn't it, this rivalry of rivals. You come and go. In this confrontation, things heat up. You want to play and compete. He [Pachs] has played fantastic this year. We will continue to excel in the future. I cheered him on, but it was just a game episode. "

It wasn't to the extent that Will Smith called Jurickson Profar "irrelevant" last year (when Profar also expressed his displeasure for thinking he deliberately threw a close-up shot), but there were similarities. Machado made a point of complimenting Pachs after the game. (As Machado points out, Pachs is in the driver's time: 13 hits, 0.806 attack index)

Neither head coach has read too much into the matter (although neither seems to have been aware of Pachs's claim about stealing the code).

"No, I don't think it's intentional," said Dave Roberts, Dodgers head coach, "and it's always uncomfortable to be hit in the arm at 100mph, and Andy is more frustrated." I don't think there was any deliberate element, and the situation quickly subsided. "

Roberts quickly approached the presiding judge, Tripp Gibson, and asked the referee to deliberate. Padres head coach Mike Shildt followed. The referees met briefly in the infield but did not give warning.

"The key is: He reacts, and when it happens, we make sure everybody is calm," Hilt said.

Calm prevailed in this incident. But this was not always the case with both teams. They played five National League divisional games last October and have met three times in the playoffs in the last five years, with the Dodgers winning two of those series.

The Padres still appear to be the Dodgers' number one threat in the West this year (even though the Giants just acquired Rafael Devers in a blockbuster trade to fill the biggest need).

The defeat puts the San Diego Padres four games behind Los Angeles and 2.5 games behind San Francisco, all of which are currently in playoff spots. Who would be surprised if the Priest and Dodge met in October for the fourth time in six years?

If that were the case, Monday's fourth inning should be a negative lesson for the Padres. The Sith threw nearly the strongest suppression of the season in the first three innings: 5 strikeouts in a row in the opening game, and 18 99+ mile speedballs in a single game.

But after one man out in the fourth inning, Jake Cronenworth's first-base pass was off and Luis Arraez couldn't catch it. The Dodgers got a fluke on base. The Sith then struck Pachs and sent another man. The Dodge scored five points in the game. Despite the incredible power of the ball, the Heath ended up losing six points in five innings.

"Dropping so many points," he said, "is like not giving the team a chance to win." "