Trent Grisham turned up a simmering Dodgers-Padres rivalry to a boil on Monday evening.

Whereas his sixth-inning house run modified the momentum in an eventual 7-2 San Diego win that trimmed the Dodgers’ NL West result in 1½ video games, it was the Padres outfielder’s exaggerated bat flip that cemented the brewing animosity between Southern California’s two scorching scorching baseball golf equipment.

Whether or not Grishman’s celebration crossed the road is up for debate. As his solo house run in opposition to Clayton Kershaw sailed via the sky, clearing the right-field wall to erase a one-run Dodgers lead, the 23-year-old launched his bat and stood for a number of seconds close to house plate, staring into his staff’s first base dugout earlier than lastly starting his jaunt across the baggage.

A number of Dodgers took rapid exception, buying and selling phrases with Grisham from the highest rail as he trotted down the third-base line.

“They wished me to run,” Grisham mentioned. “They advised me to get going slightly sooner.”

The Padres noticed it as a deserved show of swagger, a younger participant matching the depth of one of many franchise’s most necessary sequence in current reminiscence.

“On this stage, in opposition to that pitcher, I’ve by no means hit an even bigger house run,” Grisham mentioned, including: “We regarded ahead to this sequence. It is likely one of the greatest sequence of the yr. The look within the dugout was, ‘Let’s go, let’s decide it up. Let’s get after it and go get this recreation.’”

Echoed Padres supervisor Jayce Tingler: “It was an enormous second within the recreation. It was an enormous hit. It obtained us fired up. We’ve enjoyable. We play the sport proper. We respect the sport. However we’re going to have enjoyable and we’re going to drag for each other.”

To Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts, nevertheless, what Grishman didn’t respect was his opponent, blurring the boundaries of sportsmanship by displaying up one of many recreation’s superstars.

“I don’t thoughts guys admiring their homer. Actually, it’s an enormous recreation, huge hit, [and I] actually just like the participant,” Roberts mentioned. “However I simply felt, to type of keep at house plate, and definitely in opposition to a man like Clayton who has obtained the respect of everybody within the huge leagues and what he’s completed on this recreation, I simply took exception to that. As a result of I believe that there’s a sure respect that you just give a man if you happen to homer in opposition to him.”

Kershaw supplied a terser response when requested concerning the Grisham incident.

“I’m not going to fret about their staff,” he mentioned. “Let him do what he desires.”

However, actually, whether or not Grishman broke some “unwritten rule” — or if such decrees even matter in baseball anymore — is nearly inappropriate. It was a flash level both manner, chafing the already frayed feelings between the defending seven-time division champions and the assured up-and-coming challengers.

The Padres have made no secret about their intentions to unseat the Dodgers, who’ve gained the NL West each season since 2013.

Tensions flared throughout the Dodgers’ August journey to San Diego too, when a verbal back-and-forth following a house plate collision involving Padres shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. was adopted a day later by Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner getting hit by a pitch.

Monday supplied the clearest illustration but of the golf equipment’ newfound contentiousness, upping the emotional stakes in a division race that would grow to be a precursor to a possible postseason matchup.

“We wish to beat the Padres and, in flip, meaning profitable the division,” Kershaw mentioned. “Positively, it’s necessary to play properly these previous few weeks of the season going into the playoffs. Perhaps even attempt to create the environment as greatest you may. As a result of these video games matter. Deal with them as greatest you may, like playoff video games to prepare for it.”