John Lackey and Willson Contreras were ejected from this afternoon’s Cardinals-Cubs game following an argument with home plate umpire Jordan Baker that was, suffice it to say, colorful. Contreras is likely going to face a suspension for his too.
Baker blew a call on what should have been strike three on Carlos Martinez in the top of the fifth inning. There were two outs, so the inning should’ve been over. Martinez stayed alive on the blown call, however, and singled in a run on the next pitch to make it 2-1 Cardinals. That caused John Lackey and Contreras to go nuts. Watch:
The John Lackey/Wilson Contreras showdown from a #Cubs point of view 😂 pic.twitter.com/Ey5yJENknL
— Kyle (@3Cs_ILLINI) September 15, 2017
Watch Contrereas spike his helmet here, which bounded up and hit Baker:
Whose ejection was better? Lackey's or Willson Contreras's? pic.twitter.com/bQlDghjYlb
— SI MLB (@si_mlb) September 15, 2017
Both were ejected, because you can’t argue balls and strikes. For his part, Contreras will likely face a suspension for his spike. You may recall that Brett Lawrie was suspended a a couple of years back after slamming his batting helmet down, hitting an umpire. Same thing will likely apply here.
For the record, here’s the pitch chart, showing that Baker did miss the call badly. Not that it justified Lackey and Contreras’ meltdown.
Pitch No. 5 is the pitch, called a ball by the umpire, that caused John Lackey to absolutely lose his mind. pic.twitter.com/8VQwLClCf6
— Jared Diamond (@jareddiamond) September 15, 2017