With both Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor hit up high (though luckily neither of them was seriously injured) for two of the five hit-by-pitches in the first three games, New York’s Mets were understandably upset with the Washington Nationals, and some of their pitchers’ lack of control.
Nats’ skipper Davey Martinez was empathetic. He reached out to the Mets over the course of the first series of the year to make sure everyone was okay and assure his club’s NL East rivals that there was nothing intentional going on, though they’d all previously discussed it on the field earlier in the series.