Willson Contreras had an epic meltdown when he was tossed from the series opener between the Cardinals and Pirates, having to be held back by coaches and inadvertently hitting one with his bat as he crashed out over a called third strike in the bottom of the seventh.
St. Louis led Pittsburgh, 6-5, when Contreras was rung up by home plate ump Derek Thomas.
As Contreras was walking away, he apparently looked back and said something in the direction of the umpire, which led to the ejection and the ensuing chaos.
Contreras spun around and charged back at Thomas as Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol attempted to stop him, but the heated ballplayer had to be pulled away by his manager and another coach as he slammed his helmet to the ground and yelled at the umpire.
Bench coach Daniel Descalso attempted to move him toward the Cardinals’ dugout, but not before turning and launching the bat he was holding in his hand in the direction of an umpire, however, he struck hitting coach Brant Brown.
While things started to calm down, a bucket of bubble gum was thrown onto the field, with pieces scattering around the first baseline.
Marmol ended up also being ejected from the game during the incident.
Crew chief Jordan Baker told Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat that Contreras and Marmol were tossed for “vulgar” language — though he wasn’t close enough to hear too much of the exchange, having been positioned at second base.
Baker also told Jones that Contreras did make contact with an umpire, but couldn’t speak to his intent.
The Cardinals held on to win the game and kick off a four-game set with the Pirates on a positive note.
St. Louis is currently 5 ½ games back of a wild card spot in the National League.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
