SAN FRANCISCO — Dalton Rushing was in the middle of an emotionally charged scene Thursday, which came as no surprise to his manager.
“I think that’s inevitable,” the Dodgers’ Dave Roberts said with a chuckle.
Inevitable because of Rushing’s oversized personality.
If Shohei Ohtani is the face of the Dodgers and Yoshinobu Yamamoto is the arm, Rushing is the attitude.
The second-year catcher projects the confidence of a player who knows he will be a star. By baseball’s current standards, he has a minimal filter. He’s intense — and, from an opponent’s perspective, almost certainly obnoxious.
The only reason he doesn’t find himself in conflict more often is because he’s still a part-time player.
In a futile effort to think of a similar character in recent years, I made a reference to legendary bad boy Yasiel Puig, which elicited a playful retort from Roberts.
“Don’t do that,” Roberts said.
The Giants became the latest team to be triggered by 25-year-old Rushing, which explains why their starting pitcher drilled him in the ribs in the sixth inning of the Dodgers’ 3-0 victory Thursday at Oracle Park.
Two nights earlier, Rushing tagged out Giants outfielder Jung Hoo Lee at home. Lee was slow to get up on the play, and Rushing was shown on camera mouthing something as he returned to the Dodgers’ bench. The consensus on the internet was that Rushing said, “f— ’em,” which Rushing later denied.
With Dodgers’ Korean infielder Hyeseong Kim serving as a middle man, Rushing spoke to Lee to clear up any possible misunderstanding.
No matter.
With one out in the sixth inning, Logan Webb struck Rushing in the ribs with a 93 mph fastball. Webb wouldn’t say he threw at Rushing intentionally, but Roberts was convinced that was the case.
“It probably was,” Roberts said. “[Rushing] said what he said. I don’t think he meant it too personally, but they see it, social media catches it. Webby’s an old-school guy, he’s protecting his teammates, so I got no problem with it.”
On Kim’s double-play grounder that followed, Rushing slid into Giants shortstop Willy Adames.
“I liked that, too,” Roberts said. “That’s baseball.”
Rushing was uncharacteristically diplomatic when questioned about the incident.
“If it was intentional, I’ll take it,” he said. “I’ll take what I deserve.”
He reiterated that he “cleared the air” with Lee and made sure he was healthy.
As for how he crashed into Adames, Rushing said, “I was taught that in college. That’s kind of the way you go in, especially [when] you have a speedster like Hyeseong behind me.”
To Roberts, this was a laughing matter by the time the Dodgers sealed the win to avoid a three-game sweep. Roberts argued that Rushing’s “youthful enthusiasm” and “edge” were welcome additions to a team on which most players have low-key personalities.
“That’s good for a veteran ballclub,” Roberts said.
None of this would work if Rushing wasn’t producing, of course. Attitude without production can be grating, but Rushing has managed to translate his fearlessness into on-field results, his .419 average the highest on the team. He has seven homers in 31 at-bats.
Rushing drove in the Dodgers’ first run Thursday, his single to center field scoring Max Muncy from second base. The RBI was Rushing’s 14th of the season, tying him for second most on the team with Freddie Freeman.
Asked if rivalry games against, say, the Giants or Padres were more likely to draw out Rushing’s fiery temperament, Roberts said he didn’t think so.
“It comes out a lot, regardless of opponent,” Roberts said.
Example: Last week in Colorado, Rushing said he found it “a little fishy” how the Rockies successfully ambushed the Dodgers early in counts.
This is part of the package.
Rushing will drive in runs. He will also drive controversy.
“I think we gotta brace ourselves,” Roberts said.
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