Dodgers, Astros benches clear after Joe Kelly restarts feud over Houston’s sign-stealing scandal

The Dodgers were leading by three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning and Alex Bregman had worked a 3-0 count against Dodgers right-hander Joe Kelly when Kelly fired a 96-mph fastball behind Bregman’s head. Bregman reacted calmly and took first base. Three batters later, with runners at first and second and two outs, Kelly’s 87-mph curveball narrowly missed Carlos Correa’s head with a wild pitch and the runners advanced. Correa glared at Kelly, then struck out swinging. As Kelly walked off the field, he mocked Correa and the two exchanged pleasantries. Kelly stuck his tongue out at Correa and mocked him while uttering obscenities, including calling him a bad word.

And with that, it was on — pandemic be damned. Benches and bullpens emptied as Correa headed for the Dodgers’ dugout. The whole thing ended quickly after some heated words and the Dodgers won, 5-2.

“Balls get away sometimes, but not that many in the big leagues,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said (via the Los Angeles Times’ Jorge Castillo). “When you throw a 3-0 fastball over a guy’s head, now you’re flirting with ending his career. A couple other guys, the balls were close. What really enraged everybody is when he told Carlos when he struck him out: ‘Nice swing, b—-’ …

“You don’t throw at a guy’s head. That’s playing dirty baseball.”

Kelly said he didn’t remember what he said, calling his reaction a “kind of in-the-moment type thing” and admitting that, with no fans there, “you hear stuff.”

Never mind that Kelly wasn’t on the 2017 Dodgers team that still feels it was robbed in a seven-game World Series. The Dodgers bear the hurt as a group and, when spring training began, there were questions about how they and other teams would approach the Astros. Because of the pandemic, we have an answer. MLB reworked schedules when the season was compressed to 60 games and the teams suddenly were scheduled to face one another in the new, regular season. Previously they had been scheduled to face one another only in a World Series.