SAN DIEGO — Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke broke his left collarbone in a bench-clearing brawl with the San Diego Padres during Los Angeles’ 3-2 victory Thursday night.
Juan Uribe‘s pinch-hit home run in the eighth put the Dodgers ahead, two innings after Greinke hit Carlos Quentin on the left shoulder with a pitch.
The slugger started walking toward the mound, and Greinke appeared to say something. Quentin then charged the 2009 American League Cy Young Award winner. They dropped their shoulders and collided, and Quentin tackled the pitcher to the grass.
Quentin and Greinke ended up at the bottom of a huge scrum as players from both sides ran onto the field and jumped in.
Dodgers slugger Matt Kemp, ejected following the fight, confronted Quentin as they were leaving Petco Park after the game. The two went nose-to-nose briefly before Padres pitcher Clayton Richard stepped between them. Police and security broke it up.
Both teams said the melee could have been avoided.
“I never hit him on purpose,” said Greinke, who had his left arm in a sling and appeared shaken after the game. “I never thought about hitting him on purpose. He always seems to think that I’m hitting him on purpose, but that’s not the case. That’s all I can really say about it.”
Asked if there was bad blood between the teams, Greinke, who twice hit Quentin with pitches when they were in the American League, said: “Now there probably is. I don’t know if there was beforehand.”
He said the injury was “awful. It’s silly that something could happen like that. I’m disappointed.”
Quentin said his history with Greinke has been “well-documented. That situation could have been avoided. You’d have to ask Zack about that.”
“I’ve been hit by many pitches,” said Quentin, plunked more often than any other major league hitter since the start of 2008. “Some have been intentional, some have not been. For the amount I have been hit and my hitting style, I’m going to repeat: I have never reacted that way.”
When they were finally pulled apart, Quentin was led off the field by teammate Mark Kotsay. Greinke was checked by a trainer and manager Don Mattingly before walking toward the dugout, his uniform top disheveled after it had been pulled over his head by Quentin.
Greinke lowered his left (non-throwing) shoulder into Quentin and took the brunt of the blow as they collided. The right-hander, who had his wife and in-laws in the stands, joined the Dodgers as a free agent in the offseason, signing a $147 million, six-year contract.
He missed time during spring training with a tender right elbow and the flu. Quentin was slowed by a balky right knee after having offseason surgery.
After the teams started going back to the dugouts and bullpens, Jerry Hairston Jr. came running across the field yelling and pointing at someone in the San Diego dugout and had to be restrained.
Kemp also was livid, perhaps in part because Padres starter Jason Marquis threw a high-and-tight pitch to him in the first inning.
The benches and bullpens emptied again, leading to pushing and shoving. But it did not appear any punches were thrown.
Quentin, Kemp, Hairston and Greinke were ejected. Los Angeles reliever Chris Capuano was given all the time he needed to warm up when play finally resumed after a delay of about 15 minutes.
Following the game, the Dodgers announced that Greinke has a broken collarbone.
Quentin was hit by a pitch above the right wrist by Dodgers reliever Ronald Belisario on Tuesday and had to leave the game. He sat out Wednesday night’s game.
Greinke plunked Quentin once in 2008 and once in 2009, according to STATS. Coming into the game, Quentin was 6-for-24 with three homers against Greinke.
Quentin has been hit by pitches 116 times in his career, including an AL-high 23 times in 2011 with the Chicago White Sox. Greinke has hit 46 batters since his big league debut in 2004.
After play resumed, Alexi Amarista pinch-ran for Quentin, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on Yonder Alonso‘s single to tie the game at 2.
Uribe homered to left on a 3-2 pitch from Luke Gregerson (1-1) with one out in the eighth to give the Dodgers a 3-2 lead.
Matt Guerrier (1-0) retired the only batter he faced, getting Jesus Guzman to fly out to end the seventh with runners on first and second. Kenley Jensen pitched the ninth for his first save.
Former San Diego star Adrian Gonzalez hit a two-run homer deep into the seats down the right-field line with two outs in the first off Marquis, his first. Carl Crawford was aboard on a leadoff single.
Marquis allowed two runs and seven hits in five innings, struck out five and walked four.
