Arizona Diamondbacks’ Chip Hale responds to Jimmy Rollins’ comments

Welcome to the Diamondbacks-Dodgers rivalry, Chip Hale.

This season, it only took until March 24 to spark up the seemingly annual discussion about the two teams hitting each other with pitches.

Monday at Camelback Ranch, Dodgers starter Chris Anderson, a right-hander who walked 63 batters and hit 10 with a pitch in A-ball last season, plunked D-backs outfielder Mark Trumbo on the hand with a pitch.

In the bottom of the inning, Arizona’s Daniel Hudson returned the favor, hitting Justin Turner with a pitch.

But it didn’t end there. In the fifth inning, D-backs righty Allen Webster hit Turner again. He and manager Chip Hale were ejected from the game.

In the eighth inning, D-backs farmhand Derek Eitel hit Dodgers minor leaguer Dillon Moyer. Acting manager Glenn Sherlock and Eitel both got the boot, too.

During Turner’s at-bat in which he was hit for the second time, new Dodgers infielder Jimmy Rollins was conducting an interview on Time Warner Cable Sportsnet L.A. and shared his thoughts about the latest round of bean brawls.

“The one that we had with Trumbo was clearly an accident. Obviously, when they hit (Turner) the first time, it was intentional. OK, point made,” he said. “But it was a weak time to do it.

“I was talking to you so I didn’t see it, but we still got a lot of games against them, so we’ll make sure we protect our players.”

Here we go again.

D-backs manager Chip Hale was asked about Rollins’ comments Tuesday and responded with equally strong words.

“They can talk all they want, talk is cheap in my opinion,” Hale told Burns and Gambo on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM. “You know, they’re good at it. We’re just going to worry about playing the game. They can talk all they want about it.”

Rollins is right about one thing. The two teams will meet 19 times in the 2015 regular season, beginning with a three-game series April 10-12 at Chase Field.

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