The Padres had a dugout confrontation after turning a wild double play off an outfield collision
The San Diego Padres turned one of the stranger double plays we’ll see all season, and somehow, it nearly led to a fight in their own dugout.
During Wednesday afternoon’s game against the Chicago Cubs, P.J. Higgins popped a shallow fly ball to left field with the bases loaded and one out in the fourth inning.
As both shortstop Ha-Seong Kim and left fielder Tommy Pham tracked the ball, a lack of communication led to a hard collision between the Padres teammates. Neither player made the catch, but before the pain sunk in, Kim picked up the ball and threw it into the infield where a double play was turned since the Cubs didn’t advance to second and third (they incorrectly assumed a catch was made).
Pretty incredible double play turned by Ha-Seong Kim, but Tommy Pham was not happy about the collision as he got into it with Padres third base coach Bobby Dickerson in the dugout pic.twitter.com/CENaQ6oXt9
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) June 2, 2021
But keep watching for the aftermath of the play.
Both Kim and Pham would leave the game due to the collision. But as Pham was making his way to the clubhouse, he appeared to exchange words with third base coach Bobby Dickerson. Pham was livid about something Dickerson said. It got to the point where a teammate (possibly Blake Snell) had to quickly intervene to usher Pham to the hallway before a dugout fight unfolded right there in the open.
Just yikes all around.
Even if Dickerson wasn’t happy with the poor defensive communication, maybe hold off on that until you’re certain both players are fine and had a chance to cool down. Honestly, how did he think Pham was going to react?
That wasn’t an exchange that teams would like to see unfold on camera, and Dickerson will likely hear about that behind the scenes.