Carlos Quentin charged the mound after being hit by a pitch from Zack Greinke, inciting a bench-clearing brawl between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres on Thursday night.
Greinke had a full count on Quentin with the bases empty and the Dodgers leading 2-1 in the sixth when he plunked the Padres outfielder in the left arm. Quentin stared out at Greinke, took a few steps towards the mound, and then decided to charge. Greinke dropped his glove, braced for the contact, and dropped his left shoulder into the charging outfielder. Catcher A.J. Ellis rushed out and tackled Quentin to the ground, and then it was “every man for himself” after that, as announcer Vin Scully said.
Greinke was replaced by pitcher Chris Capuano after suffering an injury, which was later revealed to be a broken collarbone. Center fielder Matt Kemp was ejected for going crazy during the brawl, and he was replaced by Skip Schumaker.
Kemp was likely fuming because he felt the Padres had thrown at him earlier in the game.
An interesting twist to this story is that Greinke and Quentin have a history from their time in the AL Central.
In April 2009, the year Greinke won the AL Cy Young Award as a pitcher with the Kansas City Royals, he hit Quentin, then with the Chicago White Sox, squarely in the back with a pitch.
Here’s how the scene was described at the time by MLB.com’s Scott Merkin:
An instance between Carlos Quentin and Greinke with one out in the fourth stood out as the game’s only real fireworks, and even this uprising didn’t amount to much. Quentin was hit squarely in the back by a Greinke pitch and immediately took a couple of steps toward the mound.
Home-plate umpire Bill Hohn stepped in front of Quentin and catcher Miguel Olivo quickly restrained the slugger. Television broadcasts showed Quentin telling Olivo that he was all right, and Quentin moved down to first base.
After that game, Greinke said Quentin likely was already upset over a pitch Greinke had thrown at his head in the first, which probably led to the outfielder’s anger in the fourth.
It’s worth noting that Quentin, who is an imposing figure at 6-foot-2 and 240 pounds, tends to crowd the plate and has led the league twice in hit-by-pitches. He has been hit 116 times in his career including Thursday’s hit-by-pitch. He was hit a league-leading 17 times last year, and a league-leading 23 times the year before. Greinke has hit Quentin three times including Thursday.
