Was it intentional payback, or did the pitch just slip? That is the big question after a wild game between the San Diego Padres and Baltimore Orioles. On Saturday, the umpires threw out Padres relief pitcher Ron Marinaccio for hitting Orioles star Gunnar Henderson with a fast pitch. This hit turned a messy game into a big fight.

The anger started earlier when Padres shortstop Xander Bogaerts took a fast pitch straight to his batting helmet. Both teams are fighting hard this season, with the Padres trying to secure a playoff spot in the NL West and the Orioles trying to climb the AL East. The tension finally spilled over during a 9-3 win for San Diego.

“Craig Stammen was ejected after Ron Marinaccio was tossed for hitting Gunnar Henderson on a pitch that appeared to be retaliation for Xander Bogaerts being struck in the head earlier in the game,” Jomboy Media shared via X.

The tensions started getting high in the fifth inning. Orioles starting pitcher Trey Gibson threw a pitch high and inside that knocked down Padres star Manny Machado. Later in the same inning, Gibson threw a 93.5 mph sinker. The ball hit Bogaerts directly in the helmet. He fell to the ground, and trainers rushed out to check on him. Bogaerts avoided a serious injury, and that set the stage for revenge.

In baseball, there is an old rule: if a team hits your player, you throw at their player to get even. The Padres tried to do this to Henderson. In the seventh inning, Padres pitcher Bradgley Rodriguez threw two pitches very close to Henderson, but he missed both times.

Fast forward to the ninth inning. San Diego was leading 9-3. Ron Marinaccio hit Gunnar Henderson with a two-out pitch. It was a brutal 94 mph four-seamer that hit Henderson’s waist. The umpires stepped in right away to stop a fight and quickly threw Marinaccio out of the game. This expectedly infuriated Padres manager Craig Stammen. He entered the field, and heated exchanges with the umpires followed. Result? Another ejection.

“It would have been fine if they just warned everybody,” Stammen said. “And we’d have been fine, and move on from there.”

“They had their two opportunities in my previous at-bat and missed, so I thought that should have been the end of it,” Henderson said. “We hit somebody of theirs, and obviously weren’t trying to, but it is what it is. You had your opportunity to get it back, and they did, and missed. So that should have been it.”

Orioles manager Craig Albernaz understood why the Padres were mad about Bogaerts. However, he thought his team handled the situation well.

“I get why they’re mad … I’m not saying the ball to Gunnar was on purpose, but it was done the right way. And that’s why there were no gripes from us and Gunnar was fine with it and just took it to first base,” Albernaz said.

However, Stammen declined to consider Marinaccio’s throw as intentional.

“That’s part of pitching, to be able to pitch inside. The pitch between the plate and the body, and it hit him. I don’t know why they tossed [Marinaccio]. I guess maybe because Bogaerts got hit. But it’s frustrating that they would make a decision that quickly.”

The Padres’ manager also stayed vocal against the chirping fans, defending Machado.

Manny Machado is taking hits from the Padres fans

It’s not only the rival pitchers hitting Machado but the Padres’ fans as well.

Following a frustrating loss against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday, a few remarks were targeted towards Machado from above the dugout. So far, Machado has had a rough season this year, hitting .178 with 12 HRs and 35 RBIs. On Tuesday, Machado could manage only two hits from five at-bats. However, the Padres manager decided to take on the fans.

“Being in that situation with our star player, Manny, whom I think very highly of and I’ll protect in any way that I possibly can, I wanted to protect him from being on Jomboy and making something worse than what it needed to be,” Stammen said. “Manny was walking down the dugout (toward the home clubhouse). Manny held his tongue, and for us as coaches, we’re going to take that bullet for Manny. We got Manny out of there and let the fan know what I thought about what he was saying to Manny. I didn’t say one cuss word.”

The Padres are currently standing second in the NL West with a 36-33 record, and Saturday’s fight with the Orioles proved that the Padres are not leaving the field without a fight this year.