As you might expect, Cubs shortstop Javier Baez’s taunting of Reds reliever Amir Garrett on his walk-off hit Monday night didn’t go over as well in Cincinnati as it did Chicago.
Among those irked by Baez’s actions – his shouting at his nemesis Garrett, his slow walk to first base and his toss of the bat onto the ground in the general vicinity of the pitcher – was Bally Sports Ohio studio analyst Sam LeCure, who’s a former Reds pitcher.
"I feel like that's showing up (the opponent) to the umpteenth degree," LeCure said after the game on Bally Sports Ohio, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. "I mean, if you're gonna do your little rock or your bat flip, like that's kinda one thing. Like immediately just disregarding everything else that's going on in the complete state of just to have this kind of one-on-one with this guy right there – him and Amir – like I mean that's just all about (Baez).
That has nothing to do with the team right there. Be excited that you won the game. That's cool enough. You just walked-off in a big league game. Now you're gonna go after this monster on the mound – and like create some fight? … I don't know. I don't think that's very cool.”
LeCure then expressed how upset he’d be if a batter tossed a bat in his direction like Baez did to Garrett.
"Somebody's trying to show me up like that on the field and then gives me a weapon, I'd be prone to maybe pick it up and go hit him in the kneecap with it,” LeCure said, per the Enquirer.
The beef between Baez and Garrett traces back to at least 2019, and they had a run-in back on May 1 when Baez got upset with Garrett's celebratory antics on the mound.