I was watching the Dodgers on July 16, 2019 and they were playing the Philadelphia Phillies and Walker Buehler was pitching. The Dodgers beat the Phillies the night before 16 to 2. Justin Turner got hit in that game and the pitcher got ejected. He was hit by an 83-mph slider so not one that would hurt and wouldn’t seem intentional. I have never seen a batter lobby for the pitcher to not be ejected. Justin Turner was surprised for the ejection and the Phillies manager was obviously upset. So, the next night on the 16^th the Dodgers and Walker Buehler did not start the way they would like and gave up 6 runs in the 3^rd inning. So, they were losing 6-1 but it was early and after scoring 16 runs the night before they had time to chip away at the deficit. They did a homerun by Cody Bellinger a homerun by Joc Pederson and Max Muncy got the Dodgers to within 1 run of the Phillies. It came down to the top of the 9^th and they Dodgers were still down 1 run, and this is when things got interesting. 

Top 9 Magic

So, to start the top of the 9^th Max Muncy leads off with a walk against Phillies pitcher Hector Neris and tying run is on base. Next up is AJ Pollock and he singles to left field and it is now men on 1^st and 2^nd with no one out. Corey Seager comes up and strikes out so there is now 1 out and the Dodgers pinch hit for Austin Barnes with Matt Beaty recently called up from the minor leagues. Neris had a 1 ball no strikes count and left an off-speed pitch go right down the middle and Beaty hit the ball out for a homerun and the Dodgers are now winning 8-6. 

David Freese

The next batter was David Freese and he is leader and veteran player for the Dodgers. Neris must have still been upset about the homerun he gave up and decided to throw a 95-mph heater to hit Freese at the top of his back, almost head area. Neris is ejected immediately as he should have been. Hitting a player on purpose because he gave up a homerun is not ok and should be punished more severely than it is in the MLB. Freese and the Dodgers could be seen yelling and being very upset with Neris action. 

Neris Punishment

Today Major League baseball has given Hector Neris a 3-game suspension for hitting David Freese with the 95-mph fastball. Baseball is known to have unwritten rules that act as self-governing tools between the players. But there is no rule that when someone hits a homer off of you or does something well that you must retaliate. The action of Hector Neris is bad for the game and not safe for the batters that have to go and face him when hitting. Don’t get me wrong there are times for retaliation but not because someone just hit a homerun. Now that this happened it will be interesting to see if the Dodgers retaliate in any way against the Phillies.