It’s unclear whether any tension preceded the incident between Willson Contreras and Tyler Flowers last night, or if there was still bad blood from whatever got Contreras and Jeff Francouer pissed off three years ago (a moment that’s evidently still lodged in Francoeur’s psyche). It’s possible there was. Kris Bryant was hit by a pitch in the first inning, but it didn’t appear intentional—Julio Teheran didn’t have much say in where his pitches went last night. Josh Donaldson made a shushing gesture at the Cubs’ dugout, but that could’ve been anything.
Whether something preceded it or not, Contreras and Flowers got into it. Here’s what happened:
1. Contreras took strike two. A fastball that caught the lower edge of the zone (pitch three in this picture):
2. Contreras said something to the umpire about the call, which looks to have been the right call, and may have been drawn by Flowers’ framing the ball well (Flowers ranks highly in pitch framing—which is part of what makes him a very good catcher).
3. Flowers said something to Contreras that appears to have been punctuated with a laugh:
4. Contreras did this:
5. Contreras also did this:
Per Contreras, he was telling Flowers to “do his job.”
6. Flowers took offense, saying something to Contreras as he crossed home plate, which resulted in the following happening:
7. Javy Báez stole second on Tyler Flowers, who, while a good defensive catcher, was unable to make the play, and then taunted him:
***
After the game, Flowers responded thusly (from Jesse Rogers on ESPN):
Flowers said he was upset that Contreras was showing up his pitcher.
“I got no problem with him saying anything to me, but when it starts to reflect on our pitcher on the mound and our team, that’s more of an issue for me,” Flowers said.
Flowers also said he believes the 27-year-old Contreras has a reputation for instigating matters with his complaints.
“I know I think he does that from time to time. I don’t know. It was all very unnecessary in my opinion,” Flowers said. “The guy is a decent hitter, he doesn’t need to complain about every call. We won’t get into that aspect of the game we just finished. He got plenty of calls for his guys, too. Sometimes you need to pick your battles, and that’s hopefully something he will learn as he gets a little bit older.”
Which would be fair enough—maybe Flowers really felt Contreras showed up Teheran and/or the Braves with the chest pound/point as he rounded first (which was an extra touch from Contreras’ normal handling of a home run, which already upsets some fogies). But didn’t Flowers ask for that? Didn’t Flowers provoke Contreras? When you chirp, and on the very next pitch a guy hits a home run, and that guy happens to be Willson Contreras, who plays baseball every day like a bull who just drank ten Five Hour Energy’s, don’t you expect to get chirped a little in reply?
We all get that these things happen. We’ve all gotten embarrassed and done something dumb in response. And I don’t envy Flowers for having to answer media questions about it without having much time to think of what to say. But doubling down and calling Contreras a whiner? Calling Contreras a “decent hitter,” when Contreras has been the best-hitting catcher in the NL since his debut? Saying Contreras needs to grow up?
Come on.
Obviously, Flowers was still stinging later last night, because he evidently spent quite a bit of time in the Comments section on the MLB’s Instagram post of the home run:
Which all goes to say:
Tyler Flowers needs to settle down. He needs to learn to handle embarrassment and let it go. He needs to stop criticizing a great baseball player for doing the obvious thing after Flowers made an ass of himself. He doesn’t need to apologize or anything like that, but he needs to stop prolonging the situation. And at least internally, he needs to recognize that he messed up and paid the price.
And that’s hopefully something he will learn as he gets a little bit older.
