St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Willson Contreras let his emotions get the better of him Monday night, as he absolutely lost it in the seventh inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.
After a called third strike, Contreras suddenly got tossed from the game by home plate umpire Derek Thomas. Contreras then got into a heated verbal exchange with Thomas. A furious Contreras had to be held back from further going after Thomas.
“I didn't argue any pitch,” Contreras said about the heated moment, per the Associated Press (h/t ESPN). “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.”
Willson Contreras was so mad at this umpire that he threw a bat that hit his own coach and then launched a bunch of Hi-Chew onto the field pic.twitter.com/fslJY71FS6
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) August 26, 2025
Also ejected from the contest was Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol after arguing the call as well.
As Contreras was being escorted to the dugout, he turned around and flung his bat, which inadvertently hit Cardinals hitting coach Brant Brown.
Contreras acknowledged his fault and said he talked to Brown about it.
“I apologized to him,” shared Contreras, who also reportedly threw gum onto the field. “I wasn't looking back. I just threw my bat back.
On the season, Contreras, a three-time All-Star, is batting .261 /.344/.458 with 19 home runs an d 72 RBIs.
Before he got ejected, the 33-year-old Contreras went 1-for-4. His single in the fifth inning drove two runs home for the Cardinals to tie the score at 4-4. He later scored on a Nolan Gorman double in the same inning to get St. Louis in front, 5-4.
Gorman scored another run for the Cards in the fifth frame to give his team a two-run lead, but the Pirates tied the score by scoring the next two runs in the seventh and ninth innings. Alec Burleson sent everyone home with a walk-off home run that went 409 feet deep in the bottom of the ninth, giving the Cards a 7-6 victory.
The 65-67 Cardinals will be back in action this Tuesday night for the second game of this four-leg set at home against the Pirates.
