This is quite the meltdown.
St. Louis Cardinals designated hitter Willson Contreras lost his cool Monday night after striking out against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Following an exchange with home plate umpire Derek Thomas, he threw a tantrum that’s certain to draw the attention of MLB.
The incident took place in the bottom of the seventh inning as the Cardinals held a 6-5 lead with a runner on first base and Contreras at the plate with one out.
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Contreras throws bat, hits Cardinals coach in face
Thomas correctly called strike three on an 0-2 fastball that Yohan Ramírez threw over the middle of the plate at Contreras’ knees. At first, Contreras appeared to accept his fate as he walked immediately toward the dugout after watching the ball cross home plate.
But he looked back at Thomas as he walked away, and chaos ensued. Broadcast cameras didn’t catch what immediately happened next. But things had escalated by the time they focused back on Contreras.
“Willson was hot. My guess is that he heard something. And then, Mount Vesuvius happened.”
“Frustration understood. It happens. Not to that extent though.”
Cardinals announcers Chip Caray and Brad Thompson react as Willson Contreras and Oliver Marmol are ejected. pic.twitter.com/su5ccbUgc6
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) August 26, 2025
Contreras was heated as he spoke with Thomas, who’d walked toward the dugout to engage with him. Contreras then got in Thomas’ face and started yelling before being restrained by Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol.
By this time, Contreras had been ejected. Bench coach Daniel Descalso put his arms around Contreras and pulled him toward the dugout as Contreras continued to protest, bat still in hand. Before Contreras made it to the dugout, he threw his bat back toward the scrum of people. It hit another Cardinals staffer in the face.
When Contreras finally made it to the dugout, he found a bucket of candy and threw it on the the field.
What set Contreras off?
Here are the pitches that proceeded his tirade. Contreras watched two correctly called strikes and swung at another that was outside.
Contreras needs to pick better battles pic.twitter.com/lkgcbyAyHR
— The Todd Squad (@todsqd) August 26, 2025
It wasn’t immediately clear what set Contreras off. But it shouldn’t have been those strike calls. Not that there’s ever an excuse to wildly throw a bat toward a group of people.
Contreras: ‘He threw me out for nothing’
Contreras spent several minutes meeting with local reporters after the game, and insisted that he wasn’t sure why he was thrown out of the game.
“I was surprised because he threw me out for nothing.” Contreras said, via the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
The issue, he claims, wasn’t over the third strike call. Contreras admitted that the call was correct, and that he “struck out on a good pitch.”
But the issue, he said, was over something that the umpire thought he said. Contreras did not elaborate on what that was, but insisted that he wasn’t complaining about that specific call.
“I’m still wondering to be honest,” Contreras said. “I don’t think he had reason to throw me out. I didn’t argue any pitch in my last at bat. The only thing I said was, ‘Call the pitch on both sides because you’re missing for us.’
“I turned around, the next thing I hear they threw me out. He had no reason for it.”
As for the bat throw that hit his coach, Contreras said he immediately apologized.
“I apologized to him,” he said. “I wasn’t looking back, I just threw my bat back … that was not on purpose.”
