San Diego Padres stars Fernando Tatis and Manny Machado got into a heated confrontation in the dugout at Busch Stadium on Saturday night during their 3-2 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.
The incident took place during the fifth inning, and Machado can be seen screaming at Tatis in their dugout before teammate Adam Frazier and a coach separated the two.
“It’s not f***ing about you!” Machado can be heard screaming at Tatis in the confrontation.
“We’re here to play baseball!”
Warning: This video contains language that is NSFW
It’s not clear specifically what the confrontation was about, though Tatis struck out looking during the inning and Machado hit a pop up to second. Manager Jayce Tingler was ejected that inning, too.
Tingler declined to go into specifics about their encounter after the game.
“I’m sure people on the outside think it’s whatever they think, but we’re family,” Tingler said, via The Athletic. “We’re not gonna discuss the details, but we care. There’s passion, there’s frustration. Those are all emotions that are natural, and those things happen. But it comes down to a group of men caring.”
They were leading 2-0 at the time, though the Cardinals took the lead in the eighth after Tommy Edman hit Harrison Bader in on a sacrifice fly before Tyler O’Neill hit a two-run homer to put them up 3-2.
It’s easy to see why the Padres would be frustrated in general. San Diego has lost eight of its last 11 games — including a three-game series sweep to the Los Angeles Dodgers — and is now 2.5 games behind the Cardinals for the final National League wild-card spot.
The Cincinnati Reds are right in the mix two, as they’re just two games back from St. Louis, and the Philadelphia Phillies are only three games back.
With only 13 games left in the regular season and a playoff spot in the line, now is not the time for the Padres to be struggling — let alone fighting among themselves.
“I think any time stakes are high and everybody knows what’s at stake, anything can happen,” Tingler said, via The Athletic. “We can have disagreements, but we still love each other, we play for each other, we care about one another. And so when you have strong emotions on both sides, things happen.”
