Gary Sheffield and Fred McGriff were just doing their jobs and Trevor Wilson had problems doing his.
The result was one big brawl, a near brawl, eight ejections - including both starting pitchers - and at least two injured players during the San Diego Padres' 9-4 victory Thursday night over the San Francisco Giants, losers of six straight."That was about as wild as you can get," said San Diego manager Greg Riddoch, who blamed Wilson for starting a 15-minute melee in the fourth inning by hitting McGriff with a pitch.
Giants general manager Al Rosen made a conciliatory visit to the San Diego locker room but got an icy response from Riddoch, who was upset over fight-related injuries to Sheffield and McGriff.
After being struck, McGriff dropped his bat and charged the mound, wrestling with Wilson during the fight that brought players and coaches from both teams on to the field swinging.
Sheffield, who homered twice and collected a career-high six RBIs, hit his first career grand slam in the fourth to give San Diego an 8-0 lead. Wilson's next pitch hit McGriff in the leg.
"His job is to get people out and he didn't do that and because he didn't do that, he takes it out on Fred," Padres' Tony Gwynn said.
Wilson said the only thing he threw on purpose at McGriff was his glove, which caught the charging McGriff squarely in the head, and the two tumbled to the ground.
"That was the best strike I threw all night," Wilson said. "I wasn't going to take what he was going to dish out."