Willson Contreras had an eventful game on Saturday.
In the ninth inning, the St. Louis Cardinals first baseman made MLB history with his brother, Milwaukee Brewers catcher William Contreras. Together, the pair became the second pair of brothers to homer in the same inning as opponents in the modern age, and the first since 1933 (Rick and Wes Ferrell).
That was nice. Less nice was what happened in the bottom of the third inning.
A seemingly routine groundout to third base resulted in Milwaukee’s Caleb Durbin colliding with Contreras at first base, due to Contreras taking a step backward into the basepath after catching the throw from third baseman Nolan Arenado.
The Brewers dugout, most notably veteran Rhys Hoskins, had some words for Contreras after the play, which he reciprocated.
There was no bench-clearing brawl, but bad blood clearly remained. Hoskins got hit by a pitch on his next at-bat in the fourth inning, and Contreras took his own plunking in the fifth inning.
Contreras playfully responded to his HBP by running down the ball and returning it to Brewers pitcher José Quintana.
The real fireworks were reserved for after the game, when Contreras described Hoskins with some, shall we say, colorful language, via Jeff Jones of the Bellesville News-Democrat:
“One of their players, he liked to talk from far away, but then when he got in my face, didn’t say s***,” Willson Contreras said postgame. “I was looking for more than that. He seems to be tougher. He’s a f***ing p****. I’m not gonna name no names. He knows who he is.”
For his part, Hoskins downplayed the incident and resulting plunkings. He described their argument in the third inning as “talking about playing first base,” and said he didn’t believe he was hit intentionally.
Willson Contreras didn’t make friends on his brother’s team on Saturday. (Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images)
(John Fisher via Getty Images)
Contreras is in his first year as a full-time first baseman after nine seasons as an MLB catcher with the Cardinals and Chicago Cubs. Saturday’s incident aside, the fielding transition has so far been a smooth one, with Contreras ranking positively among most of the advanced defensive metrics.
Less good has been his offense, where he’s taken a small step back with a .255/.340/.422 slash line after Saturday. His current .762 OPS would rank as his worst mark since 2018.
Hoskins is in his second year with the Brewers after seven years with the Phillies. He is currently slashing .244/.336/.418, with 10 home runs in 257 plate appearances.
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