ST. LOUIS (AP) — Cardinals first baseman Willson Contreras threw a bat that mistakenly hit his own coach and tossed bubble gum on the field after he was ejected in over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday night.
Manager Oliver Marmol also was tossed during an animated argument with the umpires after a called third strike in the seventh inning.
Contreras said he didn’t understand why he was ejected.
“I didn’t argue any pitch,” Contreras said. “All I said was, ‘Call the pitches on both sides because you’re missing for us.’ Then I turned around. The next thing I hear, he threw me out. There’s no reason for it. Apparently, he heard something (he thought) I said. I did not say that.”
Marmol agreed with his player.
“We’ll have to dive into it to make sure what Willson’s saying is what happened,” Marmol said. “But I believe him.”
Crew chief Jordan Baker told the pool reporter that Contreras and Marmol were ejected for “saying vulgar stuff to (home) plate (umpire) Derek Thomas.”
Contreras began walking toward his team’s dugout after being rung up on a pitch that landed inside the imaginary box on the game broadcast, indicating a strike.
“I knew I struck out on a good pitch,” Contreras said.
Contreras began to look back at Thomas, who ejected Contreras. Marmol then went to hold back Contreras as he went after the umpire.
Baker said Contreras made contact.
“We’re going to review the tape and what the office sends to us, and we’ll send it in, send the report in to Major League Baseball and let them handle that part of it,” Baker said.
Cardinals bench coach Daniel Descalso then grabbed Contreras and led him away. But Contreras then appeared to throw his bat at first base umpire Stu Scheurwater, but it instead struck Cardinals hitting coach Brant Brown on his arm.
“I apologized to him,” Contreras said. “I wasn’t looking back. I just threw my bat back.”
Contreras, who went 1 for 4 with two RBIs, walked into the dugout and tossed gum onto the field.
The Cardinals won the game when Alec Burleson hit a solo home run with two outs in the ninth inning.
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