SAN DIEGO – The San Diego Padres have issued an email warning to all their fans attending this week’s National League Division Series games against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Petco Park: there will be no tolerance for throwing objects on the field ‘or making rude or offensive comments’. for anyone.”

The penalty is immediate removal from the ballpark without refund.

The Padres weren’t looking for a repeat of what happened in the seventh inning of Game 2 at Dodger Stadium, when Dodgers fans threw baseballs, beer cans and water bottles onto the field, delaying the start of the inning by about 15 minutes delayed while security and the six referees tried to get the situation under control.

Cooler heads prevailed at Petco on Tuesday as the Padres held on for a 6-5 victory in Game 3.

The best-of-five series between these two heated rivals could end with another win in San Diego on Wednesday. If not, it’s back to hostile Dodger Stadium on Friday for the finals. The sold-out crowd of 47,744 waved yellow towels and were quite respectful, unlike their brethren some 120 miles up the coast.

“Baseball is a grind,” Padres third baseman Manny Machado said after the game, without addressing Sunday’s shenanigans. “We grinded 27 zeros. This crowd was rocking tonight. The city of San Diego deserved it.”

The crowd was loud, but well behaved.

“San Diego is San Diego, and LA is LA,” Padres reliever Jeremiah Estrada added. “They have to let the boys play. We’re there and guys are throwing beer bottles. If you want to throw a $30 bottle of beer, go ahead. It’s your money you’re wasting. If you want to be banned from the ballpark, that’s your business.”

The Padres were not blameless on Sunday, as a trio of their players electrified opposing fans. Jurickson Profar interacted with some fans in the left field seats. Fernando Tatis swiveled his hips toward the fans in the right-field pavilion and rubbed his eyes to indicate they were crybabies. And Machado, in an altercation with Dodger starter Jake Flaherty, threw a ball at the screen under the railing protecting the Dodger dugout.

When asked if his players had acted appropriately, Padres manager Mike Shildt said they were simply responding to the crowd’s provocation.

“I would have been disappointed in them if they hadn’t done that,” he said.

Shildt added before Tuesday’s match that he expected local fans to de-escalate tensions.

“We have a very passionate, encouraging, hungry, loud fan base who know where the line is,” he said. “You hope that there aren’t one or two people doing something to cast a bad shadow, which I think is probably exactly what happened in Los Angeles.”

The Dodgers didn’t taunt San Diego fans Tuesday night. That wasn’t a message that needed to be conveyed to his players, manager Dave Roberts said.

“I just don’t feel like there was a reason for me, a need for me to rally the troops,” Roberts said. “I think our guys understand it.”

It all started Sunday during the first inning of what turned out to be a 10-2 Padres victory when Profar reached above the low wall into the left field seats to steal a would-be home run hit by Mookie Betts among a bunch of paying customers . Profar clearly had the ball in his glove as Betts circled the bases. Profar stood there with his back to the field and stared at the fans. He could have just thrown the ball back.

“That’s what the fans wanted me to do,” Profar said.

Before the start of the seventh, Profar approached one of those fans and handed him another ball. The fan promptly threw him back into the field.

There are conflicting stories.

That fan, Mario Zazueta, explained to local ABC television that he did not want the ball.

‘Don’t give it to me. I’m going to throw it away,” he tells Profar. “He had a big old smile and grin on his face, and he handed me the ball. So as soon as I got it, I just turned around and threw it down the line.

Other balls and trash followed, forcing Shildt onto the field along with Dodger Stadium security. Zazueta was ultimately ejected from the ballpark.

Profar had a different version.

“They asked for the ball,” he said. “And when I went over and gave it to him, he threw it. They make it seem like I’m the bad guy. I wouldn’t go there just to taunt the fans. But they asked for it.”

Of course he didn’t have to participate at all.

In another strange twist, Tuesday at Petco, again during the first inning, Betts hit a shot into the left field corner and Profar gave chase, leaping to the wall and narrowly missing the ball as it went over the fence. But this time, Betts thought Profar had grabbed the ball and circled the field before hitting second base.

When left field umpire Mark Ripperger called a homer, Betts had to retrace his steps.

“That was pretty funny,” Profar said.

A break in the tension of a heavy series.