The San Diego Padres’ face-off against the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday witnessed some of the nastiest hit-by-pitches. After Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts were hit in the fifth inning, Ron Marinaccio paid it back by the ninth, hitting Gunner Henderson. However, as Marinaccio tried to get it even, MLB wasn’t done by ejecting him from the game.

While questions still remain over Marinaccio’s act being intentional or not, he is served with stricter punishments along with his manager.

“Ron Marinaccio has been suspended three games for intentionally hitting Gunnar Henderson,” Talkin’ Baseball shared via X.

Reportedly, Marinaccio appealed against the suspension, which would now be applied after his appeal is resolved. Marinaccio would have served the suspension on Monday against the St. Louis Cardinals. Additionally, the Padres manager Craig Stammen is also served with a 1-game suspension and an undisclosed fine, and he will miss the dugout on Monday.

However, despite Marinaccio facing the suspension, the drama that unfolded on Saturday involved a few more characters.

It all started in the fifth inning when the Orioles’ Trey Gibson threw a pitch high and inside enough to knock down Machado. In the same inning, Gibson’s 93.5 mph sinker took down Bogaerts as the ball hit his helmet, knocking him down. Trainers rushed in, and Bogaerts left the game with a visible spasm in the neck. That was the foundation laid for a revenge to get organized.

The Padres’ revenge started with Bradgley Rodriguez, as he threw two pitches very close to Henderson, missing both times. However, despite dodging the inside pitches, Henderson couldn’t save himself from Marinaccio in the ninth. A brutal 94 mph four-seamer hit Henderson’s waist, triggering a bench-clearing event. Marinaccio was immediately ejected, followed by Stammen for arguing the call. But both maintained the hit as unintentional.

“He’s a great hitter. You’ve got to make hitters like that uncomfortable at times, and I pulled a fastball a little bit too much there,” Marinaccio said about Henderson. “I could understand the visual, a couple of guys pitching inside earlier, but there were no warnings.”  The Orioles batter doesn’t think so. “I guess they were trying to get payback,” Henderson said, “so I guess we’re even now.”

Even the Orioles’ manager, Craig Albernaz, rejected the narrative that Gibson intentionally hit Bogaerts. “Trey (Gibson) hit Bogaerts in the head, and their dugout didn’t like it at all. Obviously, it definitely wasn’t intentional. It was a two-seam that slipped out of his hand,” Albernaz said on Saturday.

Both sides declined to term the barrage of hit-by-pitches on Saturday intentional, but it was the Padres who couldn’t escape the aftershock. For a team already struggling at the plate, missing their manager would not do any good.

The Padres are in urgent need of power hitting

The Padres are ranked 30th in terms of total runs (272), average (.217), and slugging % (.361). This sums up how the key names at the plate are struggling. ” In the Padres’ case, a lineup of ice-cold power bats has sent the team spiraling. San Diego has scored 90 runs in its past 30 games while posting a collective .592 OPS and barely-there .323 slugging,” ESPN’s Bradford Doolittle noted.

And with how much Machado (.614 OPS), Jackson Merrill (.612 OPS), Fernando Tatis (.691), and Bogaerts (.650 OPS) are struggling this season, it should come as no surprise that there are real questions about their trade deadline plans this summer. One of the blockbuster trade rumors circling is the Padres trading Bryce Harper.

Since the Philadelphia Phillies’ president Dave Dombrowski quoted Harper as no more “elite,” Harper’s leaving the Phillies is gaining momentum. He is currently hitting .271 with 7 homers and .881 OPS, exactly what the Padres need right now. “The thought of Harper at first base should have Preller salivating,” Bleacher Report’s Zachary Rymer wrote.

The Padres are currently ranked second in the division with a 37-34 record, but their subdued offense could haunt them big in the late season. An aggressive trade deadline could save the team from the same.