A brushback pitch. Hit batters. Multiple ejections. And a rarely enforced rule that forced out a closer. Things sure got wild in the latest edition of the Giants-Dodgers rivalry.
Andres Torres hit a go-ahead, two-run double in the ninth inning, rallying San Francisco to a 7-5 victory over slumping Los Angeles on Tuesday night in a heated game that kept the Dodgers winless since the All-Star break with a season high-tying sixth straight loss.
"Tempers were flaring there a little bit," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "It was a throwback to old Dodgers-Giants games."
All-Star closer Jonathan Broxton intentionally walked pinch-hitter Aubrey Huff to load the bases in the ninth after Juan Uribe led off with an infield single, Edgar Renteria walked and both runners advanced on Aaron Rowand's sacrifice bunt.
Dodgers hitting coach Don Mattingly, who had to take over after the separate ejections of manager Joe Torre and bench coach Bob Schaefer, went to the mound for a chat with Broxton before Torres came up. Mattingly took a few steps back off the dirt toward the dugout before turning around and advising first baseman James Loney what depth to play at.
Bochy came out to protest to plate umpire Adrian Johnson that Mattingly's about-face constituted a second trip to the mound. The umpires huddled and agreed, and Broxton had to leave the game.
"It's an easy mistake to make. I saw it once he went back to say a few more words," said Bochy, who snared the Dodgers in the same trap in 2006 when he managed San Diego.
Back then, he caught then-Dodgers manager Grady Little making two trips to the mound to talk with Brad Penny, and got Penny out of the game.
"He's got great eyes for that," Giants starter Tim Lincecum said. "I guess those two little steps off the mound helped us."
Mattingly said he knew the rule, but didn't realize he had left the dirt.
"I kind of had a feeling (it was a second trip) because Adrian was yelling `No, no, no. You can't go back,' as I turned to talk to James," he said. "It cost us a chance to win the game."
Mattingly was forced to summon struggling George Sherrill, who promptly served up Torres' two-run double on an 0-1 pitch that gave the Giants a 6-5 lead.
Buster Posey completed the scoring with an RBI single off Travis Schlichting.
Santiago Casilla (3-2) pitched two scoreless innings for the win. Jeremy Affeldt pitched the ninth for his third save.
Broxton (3-2) took the loss a week after earning the save in the All-Star game with a scoreless ninth in Anaheim.
Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw got ejected in the seventh after he hit Rowand, the second time this season the Giants center fielder has been plunked by a Dodger. Kershaw hit Torres in the first.
Lincecum brushed back Matt Kemp in the fifth, then hit him with his next pitch.
"It just got away from me," Lincecum said. "I wasn't throwing at him on purpose at all. I had a hard enough time finding the strike zone, let alone wanting to hit somebody on purpose when we're down a run."
Johnson warned both benches about further retaliation. Schaefer got into a long-distance argument with first base umpire Tim McClelland from the third base dugout. Schaefer was tossed in the sixth.
Andre Ethier hit a two-run homer in the first, Xavier Paul had three hits in four at-bats and Casey Blake went 2 for 4 for the Dodgers, who remained six games behind NL West-leading San Diego.
"Right now we're just kind of finding ways to lose," Kershaw said. "That's what happens when you're going bad."
Two-time defending NL Cy Young Award winner Lincecum allowed five runs and seven hits in 4 2-3 innings, struck out a season-low two and walked three.
The right-hander struggled from the start, getting tagged for three runs in the first. He apparently lost his grip on a pitch to Blake in the second. The ball spun crazily high in the air while a bewildered Lincecum looked around for it.
"It just kind of fell out of my hand. I had it happen in spring training, too," Lincecum said. "I didn't find a rhythm, wasn't throwing enough strikes, wasn't throwing pitches where I needed to or even wanted to, which was frustrating."
After he hit Kemp, Johnson walked Kemp halfway to first while beefy first baseman Pablo Sandoval came over to Lincecum's side.
Schaefer was tossed an inning later for arguing that Denny Bautista should have been ejected for throwing inside to Russell Martin. Schaefer came out and jawed at Johnson before Torre stepped between them. Torre was automatically ejected with Kershaw.
Rowand got hit by Vicente Padilla on April 18 and went on the DL with two small fractures in his left cheekbone and a mild concussion. This time, Kershaw left to a standing ovation after hitting Rowand.
Torre said he believed the brushbacks of Kemp and Martin were payback for the April incident.
"My guess would be yes," he said.
The Giants cut their deficit to 5-4 with three runs in the sixth. Pat Burrell's sacrifice fly was dropped at the wall in left by Paul and Sandoval followed with a two-run double.
