Tensions? Oh, they didn’t just flare—they “ignited” at Dodger Stadium on Thursday night in what might go down as one of the wildest Dodgers-Padres matchups of the season. And if you blinked, you might’ve missed the cascade of chaos that turned a late-June divisional game into must-see TV.
Let’s set the scene. The Padres managed to take the final game of the four-game showdown with a 5-3 win, but the scoreboard was far from the full story. In the ninth inning, things reached a boiling point—Fernando Tatis Jr., the Padres’ electric outfielder and walking highlight reel, got plunked by a pitch. Intentional or not? We’ll let the baseball gods decide. But you “knew” what came next.
Benches cleared. Both teams stormed the field. Words were exchanged, tempers flared hotter than the July sun, and—just like that—”both” managers were tossed. Ejected. Outta here. And as if the baseball gods weren’t done stirring the pot, Shohei Ohtani—the global sensation and Dodgers’ prized two-way star—got beaned in the bottom half of the inning. Eye for an eye? That’s up for debate, but the intensity? That was undeniable.
But hey, before all that madness? There was some real history in the making… almost.
Enter Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The Japanese phenom had Dodger Stadium buzzing when he started carving through the Padres lineup in the third inning. Strikeout. Strikeout. Then he painted the corners with two perfect strikes to Tatis Jr. One pitch away from an “immaculate inning”—nine pitches, nine strikes, three strikeouts. It’s one of the rarest feats in baseball, and Yamamoto was on the cusp of it.
Then… controversy. Pitch number nine—a laser that many, including the broadcast crew, believed was “clearly” in the zone—was called a ball by home plate umpire Marvin Hudson. And just like that, the immaculate inning slipped through Yamamoto’s fingers.
“Oh no! Marvin Hudson cost him an immaculate inning!” Joe Davis exclaimed on the broadcast. And Eric Karros? He doubled down: “That wasn’t even borderline… that was borderline middle-middle.” Oof.
To be fair, Yamamoto still struck out the side. But that missed call is going to stick in the minds of Dodger fans—and maybe Yamamoto himself—for a long time.
With just 116 immaculate innings in the entire history of Major League Baseball, Yamamoto nearly joined an elite club. Instead, thanks to one questionable call, he’ll have to wait for his next shot at perfection.
Thursday’s game had everything—drama, tension, elite pitching, and enough controversy to keep sports radio lines ringing all weekend long. One thing’s for sure: this rivalry is “very” much alive.
