ST. LOUIS — Something had to give between the Mets and Cardinals.
After eight separate batters were hit between the two teams over the course of their three-game set, Nolan Arenado‘s barking following an inside pitch from Yoan Lopez forced things to boil over.
Tomas Nido tried to ease Arenado’s frustration but the Cardinals designated hitter pushed him aside and set off the confrontation between both teams in front of home plate. Pete Alonso, who was hit in the head during Tuesday night’s game, was pulled out of the pile by Cardinals first-base coach Stubby Clapp and taken to the ground.
Home-plate umpire Jeremie Rehak ejected Arenado and Clapp from the game.
“I’ll let them handle their players, I know our player got hit in the head and went to first base,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said after the game when asked if he thought Arenado was out of line.
A half-inning earlier, J.D. Davis was forced to exit after he was hit near the left foot on a pitch from Genesis Cabrera. X-rays were negative on Davis’ foot. He was in a walking boot after the game and will undergo treatment on Thursday.
“It squared me up pretty good,” Davis said. “I was just hoping there was nothing broken and sure enough there wasn’t. I’m just happy with that. Now, it’s controlling the swelling.”
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Lopez said he was trying to attack the zone, but the pitch got away from him. Arenado took exception.
“The only thing he said to me was to throw the ball but don’t throw the ball at me,” Lopez said through a translator after the game. “Like I said before, that’s baseball and that’s going to happen in the game. From what I understood, I knew he was uncomfortable from that pitch and he got upset.
“At that point, I was happy with that because I knew I got him out of his comfort zone. They took him out of the game because of it.”
“I’m totally for standing up, not just for myself, I’m totally for standing up for teammates,” Alonso said. “What happened today didn’t make sense. The ball wasn’t even close. It’s something that started for no reason. It wasn’t even close. I know it’s a five-run ball game, but we’re trying to come back. To me, the whole thing didn’t even make sense.”
The final scenes of Wednesday’s game showed a cohesive unit that is not going to back down from any challenge that comes their way this season. After their six-game road trip against the Diamondbacks and Cardinals, the Mets raised their record to 14-6.
“We had a good road trip. Quite frankly, I think we’re all tired of talking about it,” Showalter said. “We understand it’s newsworthy. The team had another good road trip and we’re playing well, just ran into some things today that we couldn’t overcome. We’re looking forward to getting in front of some friendly fans.”
Said Alonso: “Everyone is just sticking together. For me, I just think that every one of us has each other’s backs. I can’t imagine going into battle with anybody else. I have some unbelievable teammates, I have some unbelievable staff.
“For us, it’s just on to the next one. It happened, but we don’t take this stuff lightly. We don’t take getting hit in the head, whether it’s on purpose or an accident, guys are still getting hit in the head.”
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Mets-Cardinals fight: Nolan Arenado, Yoan Lopez, Stubby Clapp involved