ST. LOUIS — First baseman Willson Contreras was suspended for six games and fined an undisclosed amount for his tirade in the St. Louis Cardinals‘ 7-6 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday night.
Contreras informed Major League Baseball he is appealing the suspension, which means it did not take effect immediately. As such, he was in the lineup for Tuesday night’s 8-3 loss to the Pirates and went 0 for 3, driving in a run with a groundout in the sixth inning.
After the game, Contreras declined to comment about the suspension with his hearing pending.
On Monday, Contreras threw a bat that mistakenly hit Cardinals hitting coach Brant Brown and tossed bubble gum on the field after he was ejected. 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 thrown out of the game. He said he argued balls and strikes with plate umpire Derek Thomas but didn’t address a specific pitch and didn’t say anything disrespectful.
“Apparently, he heard something (he thought) I said. I did not say that,” Contreras said.
Crew chief Jordan Baker told a pool reporter that Contreras and Marmol were ejected for “saying vulgar stuff” to Thomas. Baker also said Contreras made contact with the plate umpire.
In his postgame media availability on Tuesday, Marmol was asked about any potential timing of the appeal, and he told reporters “my thought is that we’ll probably hear something by [Wednesday] morning, and then go from there.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
