Dodgers Brawl: Zack Greinke's Plunk Sets Off Diamondbacks Fight;

Zack Greinke found himself at the center of his second benches clearing brawl this season.

Greinke, Los Angeles Dodgers' starting pitcher, hit Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Cody Ross in the fifth inning. In the sixth, Diamondbacks starter Ian Kennedy hit Dodgers outfielder and rookie sensation Yasiel Puig with a pitch in the face.

Greinke plunked D'Backs catcher Miguel Montero in the back in the seventh inning. Kennedy returned the favor by hitting Greinke with a pitch in the next half of the inning. At that point, the benches cleared and punches started flying. Six players and coaches were ejected from the game.

"Puig gets hit in the face, Montero gets hit, it should have been really over at this point," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly told reporters after the game.

The team said the ball that appeared to hit Puig in the face had hit his shoulder and glanced off his nose. The young outfielder did not have a broken nose or a concussion.

"If you can't pitch inside without hitting someone in the head, you shouldn't pitch inside," Mattingly said.

Kennedy hit Puig and Greinke with pitches up around the shoulder and head.

"I definitely did not want to hit a guy with two strikes and put somebody like him on base," Kennedy said referring to Puig. "I honestly had no idea that it was that high until I saw the replay."

D'Backs manager Kirk Gibson said Puig was not hit on purpose and that Kennedy was pitching inside because of how good he had been at the plate recently.

"They thought we hit Puig, but certainly we didn't," Gibson said. "The guy hits everything out over the plate. But the ball got away from Ian and got inside. It's as simple as that."

Greinke spent more than a month on the disabled list after suffering a broken collarbone after hitting San Diego Padres' outfielder Carlos Quentin in April. Quentin charged the mound as the benches cleared and ran shoulder first into Greinke, who lowered his shoulder in defense.

This time, when Greinke hit Montero, Dodgers catcher Tim Federowicz sprung from behind the plate to get in front of the batter, who looked ready for a fight.