Padres lead Dodgers as fans throw baseballs and trash at San Diego players

CNN
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The San Diego Padres hit a record-tying six home runs Sunday night to defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers in a Major League Baseball playoff game that was marred by fans at Dodger Stadium appearing to throw baseballs and then trash at Padres players.

San Diego evened its best-of-five standings in the National League Division Series with LA by having each one game behind the six homers, two of them by right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr., who was one of two Padres outfielders, who had objects thrown their way in the bottom of the seventh inning.

With the Padres leading 4-1 at that point, fans threw baseballs at Padres left fielder Jurickson Profar as he warmed up in the outfield.

As Padres manager Mike Shildt and the players met with the umpires, fans began throwing trash onto the outfield turf near Tatis in right field.

The game resumed after about 10 minutes of delay following the incident.

“You can hurt someone,” Profar, who appeared visibly upset during the incident, told reporters after the game.

“You don’t do that. That’s not the way to go,” the Padres outfielder said in an interview shown on ESPN.

Shildt called the fans' behavior “unacceptable” but praised his players for their response.

“We will talk to our piece; we will not give in; we will improve our game; we will be together; and we will take care of business,” he said.

Tatis, who hit home runs in the first and ninth innings, called the environment at Dodger Stadium “wild” but said it was inappropriate to throw objects onto the field.

“I felt like something like that shouldn’t happen in a big league game,” Tatis said.

“But at the same time, it’s a good environment for baseball,” the Padre outfielder said. “Although people get a little carried away by their emotions. But it’s a good back and forth.”

“At the end of the day, it’s a show and we should enjoy every moment,” Tatis said.

Shildt, the Padres captain, said he expects better behavior from fans in San Diego when the series moves there Tuesday night.

“We're coming back to San Diego soon with a very, very loud, rowdy, aggressive and hungry crowd that's going to be super excited and going for it. But I also know we’re going to stay classy, ​​San Diego,” Shildt said.

The Padres' six home runs Sunday night tied the major league playoff record set by the Philadelphia Phillies last year and the Chicago Cubs in 2015.