Todd Frazier angry about being hit by Jake Arrieta's pitch
New York Mets third baseman Todd Frazier yells to Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Jake Arrieta after he was hit by a pitch. Home plate umpire Tripp Gibson and Philadelphia Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto step in between Frazier during the fifth inning of an MLB baseball game at Citi Field on Saturday, July 6, 2019. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
After the Mets persevered through three hit batters by the Phillies’ Jake Arrieta and a pair of subsequent ejections for a 6-5 win Saturday night, Arrieta took issue when he heard that Todd Frazier was upset about being plunked. He suggested that the Mets third baseman “come see me” and that he would “put a dent in his skull.”
On Sunday, Frazier called Arrieta’s reaction “overboard.” He said, “He can say what he wants. I am just sick of getting hit.”
The Mets have been hit 12 times by the Phillies this season. It’s happened to Frazier three times, twice in this series.
He threw down his bat after being hit in the fifth inning Saturday and clearly was upset as he took first. When plate umpire Tripp Gibson warned both benches, Frazier erupted and was ejected. He was ticked that the Mets were warned without doing anything to the Phillies.
Gibson said after the game that complaining about warnings warrants an ejection in MLB.
“You’re going to warn both sides, but we didn’t do anything yet?” Frazier said. “That’s the game of baseball: You’re going to hit our guys, we get a chance to hit theirs. Maybe that’s not the game anymore, but that’s how I grew up playing the game.”
Arrieta was not ejected when he hit Amed Rosario two batters later, and manager Mickey Callaway was ejected for arguing about that. Frazier called Callaway’s reaction warranted. “If you’re going to warn both sides,” he said, “go through with what you’re saying.”
The only moment when it looked as if there might be carryover Sunday was when Wilmer Font hit Rhys Hoskins in the seventh. But it didn’t escalate, and Hoskins homered off Font in the ninth.
The pitch that hit Frazier was a changeup, and Frazier said “it probably wasn’t on purpose.” Still, he said, “I’ve gotten hit too many times by the same team.”
Asked if he had done something that might have Arrieta zeroing in on him, Frazier said, “I have no clue.
“I don’t think all of them are a coincidence,” he said. “How many times have we been hit? Eleven or 12 times by one team? You think it’s all a coincidence? I don’t know. Baseball, people get hit. You do it 12 times and a couple will be on purpose. You hit a guy and we get a chance to hit their guy. Whether it’s changed or not, that’s the way you play. Those umpires know it.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
