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In the top of the first inning of Thursday night's four-game opener of the series between the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals, Ian Happ came up to bat and unintentionally hit Willson Contreras on the head.
The incident caused Contreras to bleed, and even though Happ and Contreras hugged it out, Mikolas decided to pull the ultimate childish move and intentionally plunk Happ after that. By getting tossed, Mikolas gave the Cubs a huge opportunity to torch the Cardinals bullpen early in a must-win series to decide the Cub's fate at the trade deadline.
Now Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol has been tossed from the game
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) July 28, 2023
(via @BallySportsMW)pic.twitter.com/6ZYkLyGBnO
Now, Cardinals Manager Oliver Marmol has been tossed as well.
The Cardinals will now play game one of the series without their starting pitcher, starting catcher, and manager. After Mikolas was tossed, the Cubs quickly rallied for three runs to take a 3-0 lead in the first, incidentally placing Mikolas in line for the loss. Tempers are flaring in St. Louis, but the Cubs should keep their cool enough to know that they need to win these games and now have an excellent opportunity to take advantage in this series.