On Monday, Cincinnati’s Brandon Phillips called the St. Louis Cardinals “little bitches”. On Tuesday, those words helped ignite a first inning brawl between the teams.
After the Cardinals took game one of a crucial three-game series on Monday in Cincinnati, the war of words that began with Phillip’s comments carried over to Tuesday’s game between the NL Central division clubs.
St. Louis scored an unearned run to take a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, then fireworks erupted in the bottom half of the inning when Phillips lead off for the Reds.
The Cardinals Yadier Molina took exception to a bat tap from Phillips, a gesture the Reds’ second baseman uses to greet the opposing catcher.
Molina wanted nothing to do with Phillips’ sign of good will and the two began barking at home plate. Seconds later, both benches emptied and the brawl was on.
Phillips provided an edge to the series after his comments to Dayton Daily News columnist Hal McCoy became known to the Cardinals.
“I’d play against these guys with one leg,” Phillips said before Monday’s game. “We have to beat these guys. … All they do is bitch and moan about everything, all of them, they’re little bitches all of ‘em.”
He also was quoted as saying, “I really hate the Cardinals. Compared to the Cardinals, I love the Chicago Cubs. Let me make this clear: I hate the Cardinals.”
Molina and Phillips were separated, with former Cardinal Scott Rolen coming out of the Reds’ dugout attempting to placate Molina.
Initially it seemed Rolen’s efforts at keeping the peace were going to work, but then St. Louis manager Tony La Russa and Cincinnati manager Dusty Baker started jawing.
The two have a long history of verbal sparring dating back to Baker’s time with the San Francisco Giants and later as the Chicago Cubs manager.
It wasn’t long after La Russa and Baker started barking when the two teams began pushing, shoving, throwing punches…and kicking.
Rolen and Cardinals’ pitcher Chris Carpenter began to mix up and suddenly a rugby scrum broke out at a baseball game.
Cincinnati starting pitcher Johnny Cueto was pushed against the screen behind home plate and started kicking wildly, apparently connecting with Cardinals backup catcher Jason LaRue.
After a few tense minutes, the teams separated and the umpires met to determine which players might get tossed from the game.
As it turned out only La Russa and Baker were ejected – a good move by the umpires that allowed the two teams to settle things on the field.
Molina responded in the second inning by hitting a home run and drove in another run in the sixth with a sacrifice fly to help lead the Cardinals to an 8-4 victory.
The win moves St. Louis into a tie atop the NL Central a few percentage points ahead of Cincinnati.
After the game Molina spoke with Jim Hayes of Fox Sports Midwest, explaining why he reacted to Phillips’ bat gesture.
“He talked bad about my team, he talked bad about me,” Molina said. “Don’t talk bad and come up and say ‘hi’ to me. That’s stupid.”
After Monday’s game, St. Louis’ Skip Schumaker said he wasn’t aware of any problems between the two clubs.
“I didn’t know we had bad blood,” said Schumaker. “They can talk. And we’ll leave our comments to ourselves.”
The Cardinals may end up thanking Brandon Phillips for his comments.
St. Louis has been a model of inconsistency all season, but these last two games against the Reds have sparked the club into playing the way they’re capable of.
The series concludes on Wednesday in a day game that will feature Bronson Arroyo (12-6) taking the mound for the Reds and Adam Wainwright (16-6) pitching for the Cardinals.
Watch the extended video of the St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds brawl.
