Daian Peña (Anthony J. Causi / New York Post)
Mets fireballer Francisco Rodriguez launched into a foulmouthed tirade against the mother of his children, then pummeled her father after he came to her defense, banging the older man’s head against a wall in a stadium hallway outside a room filled with players’ wives and children, officials said yesterday.
“You can’t talk to my daughter that way!” the dad, Carlos Peña, told the hotheaded baseball star, according to one source, as K-Rod berated the woman after Wednesday night’s game at Citi Field.
In response, Rodriguez “repeatedly hit him in the face and hit his head against a wall,” said NYPD spokesman Paul Browne.
The horrifying assault left K-Rod out in the cold yesterday — booted from his Brookville, LI, home. Rattled baby mama Daian Peña and her bruised and battered 53-year-old dad, both of whom live with him, took out restraining orders against him.
The attack unfolded after the Mets’ relief pitching ace — already fuming at having been bypassed in his team’s game against the Colorado Rockies — summoned his girlfriend out of the players’ family lounge after the game, sources said.
The troubled couple, parents to boy-girl twins less than a year old, started arguing, with K-Rod viciously cursing at the woman, dropping F-bombs right and left, sources said.
Carlos Peña came out into the hallway tunnel and stood up to the bad-tempered ballplayer.
Rodriguez, 28, attacked the older man as if he had just charged the mound, officials said.
Security guards allegedly had to pull Rodriguez off the dad. Officials said Carlos Peña suffered a frontal-lobe hematoma, contusions and abrasions in the attack.
The petulant pitcher then fled the ballpark as a clubhouse staffer called police. Rodriguez returned 15 minutes later, after a Mets employee reached him on his cellphone. He was then arrested.
At his arraignment in Queens court yesterday, Rodriguez pleaded not guilty to third-degree assault and second-degree harassment. He was released on $5,000 bail.
The judge said the pitcher’s family was not safe at home, and issued the restraining orders. The ruling prevents him from entering the home or visiting their children without permission from Family Court.
Prosecutors claimed that Rodriguez has a history of family violence, including incidents in his native Venezuela and in California, where he pitched for the Los Angeles Angels. Assistant DA Kristen Kane said the Peñas “are very fearful of the defendant returning to the home.”
K-Rod’s lawyer, Christopher Booth, denied any history of domestic violence.
The Mets wasted no time punishing the pitcher, suspending Rodriguez for two games without pay. The move costs K-Rod an estimated $125,683 of his $11.5 million salary.
“Ownership and the organization are very disappointed in Francisco’s inappropriate behavior, and we take this matter very seriously,” Mets Chief Operating Officer Jeff Wilpon said in a statement.
Rodriguez had no comment.
Booth said: “Mr. Rodriguez, like everyone else, has family issues and family concerns on top of the pressures that athletes like him face every day.”
K-Rod’s agent, Paul Kinzer, said: “He knows things got carried away. He’s sorry for it, but he’s just got to see what happens today.”
After his arrest, the Mets closer spent the night in Citi Field in police custody. He was there even until the seventh inning of his team’s matinee game yesterday, which the Mets won, 4-0, without him.
Additional reporting by Perry Chiaramonte and Kieran Crowley