ST. LOUIS – St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Willson Contreras was ejected after a strikeout in the seventh inning of Monday’s series opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates. He claims he was ejected after he told the home-plate umpire to “call those pitches both sides.”
Just moments after his seventh-inning strikeout and responding remarks, Contreras was ejected by home plate umpire Derek Thomas.
A major disruption followed. Contreras approached Thomas after the strikeout, visibly frustrated and restrained by manager Oli Marmol and bench coach Daniel Descalso. Contreras exchanged some heated remarks, tossed a bat near the direction of an umpire that ultimately hit Cardinals coach Brant Brown, and then threw a bucket of Hi-Chew fruit chews from the Cardinals dugout onto the field.
Marmol was also ejected after a discussion following the events that transpired.
Contreras shared the following remarks on his point of view around the ejection with media members after Monday’s contest:
“I’m still wondering, to be honest,” Contreras said on why he was tossed. “I don’t think he had a reason to throw me out. I didn’t argue any pitch in any at-bat. I didn’t argue any pitch in my last at-bat. The only thing I said was, ‘call those pitches both sides, because you’re missing for us.’ That was it. Then I turned around. The next thing I hear, he threw me out. He had no reason for it.”
“I knew I struck out on a good pitch. I didn’t argue any of the pitches in any of the at-bats today, because I know he was a good umpire. The only bad thing I said was, ‘call those pitches both sides.’ And that was it. And he kind of surprised me because I know the game, [we were leading] by one [run]. I don’t want to get thrown out in a close game like that.”
Contreras claimed he didn’t make physical contact with any umpires during the altercation. It’s unclear what Thomas may have said during the exchange of words, or what Contreras said moments after his ejection.
Contreras added that he apologized to Cardinals hitting coach Brant Brown for tossing a bat that hit him.
“I apologized to him. I wasn’t looking back, I just threw my bat back, but that was not on purpose,” said Contreras.
Major League Baseball officials are expected to review video of the ejection and events that followed in the upcoming days. It’s unclear at the moment if Contreras may face a suspension for his actions.
The Cardinals won 7-6 Monday on a ninth-inning walkoff home run from Alec Burleson, overcoming an early three-run deficit, but squandering a late two-run lead before securing the win.
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