There's history between the Dodgers and the Giants.
There's also history, albeit much less, between Yasiel Puig and Madison Bumgarner.
Each added a chapter Tuesday night in the Dodgers' 4-2 win over the Giants at Dodger Stadium.
Puig was hit in the foot by a Bumgarner 1-2 pitch in the bottom of the first inning. The Dodgers centerfielder, sitting in the batter's box with his back to the mound, looked over his shoulder, got up in a hurry, and walked towards Bumgarner while the two traded words.
An upset Bumgarner tossed his glove down on the Dodger Stadium turf.
There quickly was an effort to keep the players apart from one another. Meanwhile, both benches and both bullpens cleared, spilling onto the field. No punches were thrown and there were no ejections.
What made Puig so upset?
"(Bumgarner) looked at me (and) he said 'What are you looking at?'" Puig said through a translator. "And I reacted after he made that comment."
Gallery: Dodgers fall to Giants in 13 innings
Emotions are high with both teams inching closer to the postseason. For the Dodgers, having already clinched a playoff berth, the magic number to clinch the NL West is now one following Tuesday's win, while the Giants are close but have yet to clinch a spot in the postseason. When you factor in the rivalry between the two franchises, emotions boil over.
Dodgers manager Don Mattingly caught up with Puig during the scrum and tried to calm him down.
"I wanted to make sure that (he understands) we're going to play these guys tomorrow and we got a chance to play them later and the best way to respond, really, is to play baseball," Mattingly said, reciting his conversation with Puig in the bottom of the first inning. "Do it with your bat. Do it with your glove and (I) really wanted him just to get to first (base)."
Cooler heads eventually prevailed despite this not being the first time Puig and Bumgarner had words. In a meeting in May at Dodger Stadium, Puig was on his way home after a hitting a home run off the Giants' starter. As Puig made his way down the third-base line, Bumgarner stood on the infield grass yelling in his direction, apparently upset at the Dodger slugger's bat flip, and the two exchanged verbal jabs.
"We had a little back and forth (in May)," Puig said. "(I'm) not sure if that's a continuation of what happened tonight. I just reacted to what he said. That's, basically, what happened. I just reacted."
