The St. Louis Cardinals and San Diego Padres are trading unnecessary blows. After the benches cleared on Friday night between the two teams after Willson Contreras was hit by a pitch, Padres third baseman Manny Machado was hit twice in Saturday’s matchup causing yet another bench-clearing incident.
Machado was clearly frustrated after being struck twice by fastballs in the same game. It occurred while the Padres were up 3-1 in the top of the ninth inning. Clearly tensions are rising as the last two games resulted in the benches clearing. It’s one thing to get hit once in a game, but twice is more than just an accident.
Benches clear in St. Louis after Manny Machado was hit for the second time tonight pic.twitter.com/oUCnqoy7dP
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) July 27, 2025
Manny Machado airs out frustration after getting hit for second time in Saturday’s game against St. Louis Cardinals
Machado went on a NSFW rant toward the umpire after he was hit for the second time on Saturday night. He was irate about getting hit multiple times in the game. It made sense for him to not be too thrilled seeing as it was the top of the ninth inning. The Padres were winning and Machado had two hits in the game.
Why the Cardinals decided to hit Machado twice in Saturday’s game doesn’t make much sense. Contreras was hit last night so getting one back made sense. But a second time is proof they were taking it a little too far.
Though the benches cleared, nothing escalated past a shouting match. This just didn’t make sense and the Cardinals have to be better. Inciting an incident like this, especially this late in game is pointless.
There’s a lesson to be learned and that’s not all situations require the benches to clear. But when one of your top hitters gets hit twice in the same game, something has to be done. You can’t blame Machado for being mad or his teammates for backing him up either. Hopefully this is the last of these antics.