The Reds held a comfortable 4-0 lead over the Cubs on Sunday when Cincinnati starter Johnny Cueto threw a pitch over David DeJesus’ head. Since Matt Garza had hit Todd Frazier with a pitch two innings earlier, both benches were warned by the home plate umpire. The Cubs eventually won the game in extra innings.
Garza, who insists he did not hit Frazier intentionally, ripped Cueto after the game for retaliating and in turn motivating Chicago to come back and win the game.
“Hopefully he learns to grow the hell up,” Garza said, via CSNChicago.com. “Cueto should learn you don’t go after guys’ heads. Don’t wake a sleeping dog and I think that’s kind of immature on his part and totally uncalled for. He’s lucky that retaliation isn’t in our vocabulary here.
“That’s kind of BS on his part. Just totally immature. If he has something to say about it, he knows where to find my locker and definitely I’ll find his. You’re up 4-0, grow up. I hope he hears this, I really don’t care.”
Maybe Cueto wasn’t throwing over DeJesus intentionally. For all we know he might have eaten another bad batch of chicken wings before his start. But if it was intentional, you can understand why Garza would be upset. If you’re going to throw at someone on purpose, you never throw in the area of their head. Whether or not the exchange sparked a Cubs comeback is a different discussion altogether.
H/T Hardball Talk
