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Willson Contreras Issues Apology to Cubs After Postgame Dust-Up

Tensions flared at the end of the Thursday rubber match between the Cardinals and Cubs.

Josh Wilson

Willson Contreras was hit by a pitch in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Willson Contreras was hit by a pitch in the bottom of the ninth inning. / @JacobCersosimo on X (formerly Twitter)
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Following the Chicago Cubs' 3-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday afternoon, Cubs pitcher Daniel Palencia and Cardinals catcher Willson Contreras exchanged words in a brief moment of tension.

After the game, Contreras offered an apology to the Cubs for his actions.

"My reaction was bad," Contreras admitted, speaking to the media. He later added, "I apologize to the Chicago Cubs. I'm not trying to fight them. I'm not trying to fight anybody. I just [reacted] to the heat of the moment."

Contreras played the first seven years of his career with the Cubs.

The catcher had reached first base after being hit in the hand by one of Palencia's pitches in the bottom of the ninth inning. The Cubs challenged the HBP call, which was upheld. Contreras offered an explanation of what happened between him and Palencia:

"The heat of the moment, the heat of the game. I got hit in the hand... And I just turned around [after the game ended] and I said 'Just throw strikes.' That's it," Contreras said. "It looks bad," he continued. "If you're a fan and you're watching the game, it looks bad."

Palencia also chalked up the incident to the heat of the moment.

"The only thing I didn't appreciate was the way he turned around. But once again, it's just the heat of the game. He came out with good stuff," Contreras said.

Asked about a seeming increase in hit-by-pitches this year for Contreras, he admitted it's, "not fun."

"I know they're not trying to hit me but it's not fun when you're getting hit in your hand."

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Josh Wilson
JOSH WILSON

Josh Wilson is the news director of the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI in 2024, he worked for FanSided in a variety of roles, most recently as senior managing editor of the brand’s flagship site. He has also served as a general manager of Sportscasting, the sports arm of a start-up sports media company, where he oversaw the site’s editorial and business strategy. Wilson has a bachelor’s degree in mass communications from SUNY Cortland and a master’s in accountancy from the Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois. He loves a good nonfiction book and enjoys learning and practicing Polish. Wilson lives in Chicago but was raised in upstate New York. He spent most of his life in the Northeast and briefly lived in Poland, where he ate an unhealthy amount of pastries for six months.

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