Diamondbacks unnecessarily retaliate after Fernandez gets frazzled

Jose Fernandez hit David Peralta with a 97 mph fastball in the sixth inning on Wednesday night. And the Arizona Diamondbacks felt it was necessary to retaliate.

Fernandez was hoping to simply throw a fastball on the inner part of the plate for a strike. The pitch got away and judging by Fernandez's response, he was not intentionally throwing at Peralta. Fernandez stood in front of the plate with his hands on his head until Peralta was standing up. Arizona's dugout was not pleased and hitting coach Mark Harkey was ejected.

Christian Yelich stood in the box in the seventh inning and got hit. He was clearly not phased but wondered why it was necessary:

Christian Yelich pic.twitter.com/mLzvyLwYa8

— Jeff Sullivan (@based_ball) July 23, 2015

The Marlins are very familiar with pitches that come too far inside. After all, Giancarlo Stanton was hit in the face, not the top of the helmet. They retaliated. But that was their franchise player and Mike Fiers also subsequently hit Reed Johnson. It should never be acceptable to hit another player intentionally. But the Diamondbacks took it to another level.

Peralta was not badly injured and Fernandez seemingly was able to settle down. But as FOX Sports' Rich Waltz and Tommy Hutton asked: What were the Diamondbacks trying to accomplish? Considering the place Yelich was hit, there is not really any doubt it was intentional. The Diamondbacks do not play the Marlins more than seven or eight times each season. Last night was the final meeting of 2015.

Some might believe pitchers who intentionally hit batters deserve harsher punishments than players who use performance enhancing drugs. Whether that is the case or not, Yelich was hit unnecessarily on Wednesday night.