Benches clear between Dodgers, Angels after Yunel Escobar HBP

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The Freeway Series got feisty in the eighth inning Thursday night when both benches and bullpens emptied after Brandon Morrow's fastball hit Yunel Escobar in the shoulder.

The pitch clearly wasn't intentional despite Escobar's furor, and no fights actually broke out as the Los Angeles Dodgers salvaged a split of the interleague rivalry series with a 6-2 victory over the Los Angeles Angels.

Morrow and Escobar formerly were Blue Jays teammates. Escobar apparently thought the Dodgers were retaliating for his reaction to a walk earlier in the game. But Morrow was visibly frustrated with himself after the bad throw loaded the bases for the Angels.

"I get it, you're mad about getting hit,'' Clayton Kershaw said of Escobar. "But read the room a little bit and realize we're not trying to hit you.''

Morrow then struck out Luis Valbuena, and the reliever made a conciliatory gesture at Escobar on first base while he left the mound.

"For us to even consider hitting anybody to put the tying run at the plate obviously makes no sense at all,'' Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.