Of all the words, gestures and uniformed personnel that filled the infield during Monday night’s bench-clearing incident at Wrigley Field, the most telling words of the moment might have been spoken by former Braves outfielder Jeff Francoeur, now a TV analyst, during the Braves broadcast – and Cubs catcher Willson Contreras’ response.
After Contreras got into it with Tyler Flowers and gestured to the Braves bench upon hitting a second-inning homer during the Cubs’ 8-3 victory Monday night, Francoeur said Contreras “is lucky he didn’t get decked.”
As the benches emptied in a quickly dispersed incident, Francoeur went on to recall a stare-down he had with Contreras when the Cubs catcher was a rookie in 2016 during Francoeur’s last year in the majors.
“Now looking back on it when you’re done, quite frankly, I wish I’d have just thrown the haymaker and been done with it,” Francoeur, 35, opined.
Blame Contreras for overreacting to Flowers’ butting into Contreras’s conversation with the umpire over a 1-1 call during that at-bat – or overreacting to the quick-pitch fastball he got on the next pitch that he was able to put in the basket.
But anyone who hasn’t seen a different emotional tenor in Contreras this season after making that a priority over the winter doesn’t know much about the catcher likely to start a second consecutive All-Star game in two weeks.
“He plays with that chip on his shoulder, and sometimes things like tonight happen,” said veteran pitcher Jon Lester, who earned the victory with six strong innings. “You’ll see that sometimes from him, but not in a negative way. I don’t think that was a negative thing.”
At the very least, Contreras was not looking for any haymakers.
He paused when told of Francoeur’s comments after the game, then snorted a laugh.
“That makes me laugh. What can I say about that?” said Contreras, who also singled home a run in the fourth and drove in another on a grounder in the Cubs’ five-run fifth.
“Poor guy,” he said. “Just a poor guy, man. He should behave as a professional. He was a ballplayer, he played a lot [12 years] in the big leagues. He should have respect for everyone. He knows better. How knows how things go on the field. … He’s a poor guy.”
Contreras’ issues in the second inning involved Flowers piping in while he was talking to the umpire.
“I just told him to do his job and I’ll do mine,” Contreras said. “I don’t know why he got pissed off. He’s great behind the plate, but those pitches weren’t even close to the strike zone. And he got made because I was talking to the umpire about that and he jumped into the conversation.”
Flowers said he thought Contreras was showing up his pitcher and called his actions “unnecessary.”
“The guy’s a decent hitter. He doesn’t need to complain about every call,” Flowers said. “Sometimes you need to pick your battles and hopefully that’s something he’ll learn as he gets a little older.”
Once he hit the homer on the quick pitch, Contreras immediately looked back at Flowers and said something. And then as he rounded first base, he gestured toward the Braves bench and pounded his chest.
By the time Contreras reached the plate, he had more words for Flowers, at which point umpire John Tumpane stepped between them – Contreras back-pedaling to his dugout as the two catchers continued to yell.
Cubs manager Joe Maddon called the whole thing “benign” and said it “amused” him.
Lester said Contreras has grown plenty, regardless of what Flowers or Francoeur might thing.
“And I think eventually that chip will get a little less and less every year,” he said. “And he’ll just settle into being the perennial All-Star catcher that we all expect to see.”
Emotional charge?
Whether the flared emotions led to any of the offensive fireworks for the Cubs, it was as much life as they’ve shown so far during a limp homestand that included a pair of series splits with the also-ran White Sox and dysfunctional, pedestrian Mets.
“I think it’s obvious that the last five weeks have been a little bit of a flatter period for us,” team president Theo Epstein said before the game. “We haven’t played great. The record shows it; the run differential shows it. Just watching us play, we’re not playing quite as clean baseball or as locked-in baseball.”
Maybe the first sight of the Braves since the Cubs’ ugly season-opening road inspired a more locked-in mindset for the Cubs – who were swept in Atlanta in a series that included another brief bench-clearing incident after a hard slide by David Bote.
A locked-in Lester might have had something to do with it, too.
Lester, who lives about 40 minutes outside of Atlanta in the offseason, pitched six innings without allowing an earned run for just his second quality in eight starts.
He’d allowed seven home runs in his previous three starts, including a career-high three June 13 in Los Angeles.
But he allowed only one extra-base hit on this night, a double, didn’t walk as batter and the only two runs he allowed scored on a two-out single in the sixth – after an error earlier in the inning.
“The good thing about him is when he goes through a stretch where he struggles a little bit, he’s really good at ultimately pinpointing the reason why,” Epstein said, “whether it’s mechanical, or something with his pitch mix or approach, something on the mental side.”
