During the sixth inning of Wednesday’s game between the Cubs and Marlins, tempers flared and benches cleared following a home run by Junior Lake.
Lake launched a home run to left field off of Marlins pitcher Dan Haren and took a moment to admire it. A bat flip followed as Lake made his way to first base. Then, after rounding third base, Lake put his finger to his lips as to hush players in the Marlins duguot as he glared towards them.
Catcher J.T. Realmuto had a few words for the Cubs outfielder when he reached home plate, which led to the clearing of both dugouts and bullpens.
No punches were thrown and there were no ejections.
Earlier in the game, Haren hit Starlin Castro with a pitch. During Monday’s game, Castro hit a home run and took his time rounding the bases, so much so that “SportsCenter” even timed it. Cubs manager Joe Maddon didn’t appear pleased, saying it speaks to the “superficial component within our game.”
It’s no surprise that Maddon was not happy with Lake and pulled him aside during the game.
“We spoke to him during the game,” Maddon said of Lake via the Chicago Sun-Times’ Gordon Wittenmyer. “We don’t do that here, and that’ll be the last time you see it.”
It’s also odd that Lake keeps making headlines here for embarrassing reasons.
