Dominic Smith got into a shouting match with Phillies reliever Jose Alvarado just before benches cleared in the eighth inning of the Mets’ 2-1 loss on Friday night, but Smith apparently hadn’t cooled off by the time the game was over.
Speaking with reporters after his strikeout at the hands of Alvarado, which led to the end of a rare Mets rally and a jawing back and forth between the two, Smith didn’t hold back words like teammates held the pair back on the infield grass.
“I’m a grown-ass man,” Smith said to reporters. “Come meet me there if you really got a problem…he waited for his team to grab him. I’m right there. He can meet me in the tunnel tomorrow if he really wants to get after it.”
Alvarado and the Phillies wanted the matchup with the lefty Smith, who struck out with the go-ahead run on first base in the eighth inning, making it just two hits in his last 22 at-bats. Smith said he wasn’t sure exactly what Alvardo was initially saying to him as he walked off the mound following the strikeout, but he was ready for a confrontation nonetheless.
“I said a couple explicit things,” Smith said. “I’m ready. I’m walking towards you, you don’t have to walk to your bench. If you’re going to mother-f me and follow me, then come get me then…I’m a grown-ass man. I don’t take none of that sh*t.”
Mets manager Luis Rojas thought Alvarado instigated the confrontation by jawing at Smith after striking him out.
“You get the punchout, you get off the field,” Rojas said.
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