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Jake Arrieta is extremely mad at Todd Frazier, threatens to put a dent in his skull
Jim McIsaac
The New York Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies have each had their share of struggles this season, especially of late. On Saturday night at Citi Field, frustrations for both NL East clubs may have reached a boiling point.
In the bottom of the fifth, Phillies pitcher Jake Arrieta had completely lost control of his stuff, having already given up three runs and hitting two Mets batters with pitches. On the second pitch to New York third baseman Todd Frazier, he missed badly with a changeup and hit Frazier right in the elbow. Frazier, obviously unhappy that he was the third guy to get beaned, took exception. Have a watch:
It's hard to tell if Arrieta's pitch, an 85-mph changeup, was intentional or not. According to many reports, Arrieta may have been pitching through an injury on Saturday night, which may have contributed to his poor performance. That mattered very little to Frazier, who was angry enough to get thrown out by the umpire and could be seen telling Arrieta to "be a grown man" as he was being pushed back to the dugout.
After the game, Arrieta was asked if he'd ever seen a player react that way to being hit with a changeup. He did not mince words.
"Nope. You know, if Frazier's not happy about it he can come see me, I'll put a dent in his skull."
Here's the video:
I think Twitter user @ChiefEsco summed up everyone who watched that video's initial thoughts:
If you've ever read anything about Arrieta (Tom Verducci's profile on him from 2016 is incredible), you're aware he's a bit of a mad man. Even still, just chill out guy. Denting people's skulls is an aggressive way to handle things.