(670 The Score) The Cubs are tired of Reds reliever Amir Garrett’s antics, which continued as Chicago earned a 3-2 win at Cincinnati on Saturday.
After Garrett struck out Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo with one out in the eighth inning, he celebrated by punching his own chest and appeared to share some words with Rizzo. That upset Cubs shortstop Javier Baez, who yelled at Garrett from the dugout. Garrett responded by taking a few steps in the Cubs’ direction, which led to both benches and bullpens to emptying. No punches were thrown, nor was anyone ejected, but the Cubs had plenty to say afterward.
“That’s his style,” Cubs manager David Ross said. “I don’t agree with it. I think it’s garbage.”
Baez especially unloaded on Garrett, who has a long history of raising a ruckus with his celebrations.
“Like Rossy said, he’s got a style,” Baez said. “We all get that, but I’m not just going to let him or anyone disrespect my teammates or my team. It was not a big situation, you know. I’m going to try to stay professional with this. It doesn’t matter, he’ll do it again. If somebody else does it again, we will go out there again. That’ not a problem. Like I said, he needs to respect the game. If you don’t respect the game and you don’t respect us, then that’s going to happen. Because he’s doing that to us. He’s not doing it to his teammates. He’s not doing it to pump up his teammates. He’s disrespecting us. As long as he does it, we’ll be there too.
“I don’t know what he’s got against Rizzo. He did it to me in the past. Like I said, I like what he does. He’s just got to do it to his team, not his us.”
Baez went on.
“I’ve hit three homers against him, and I didn’t do anything to show him up or his team,” Baez said. “Like I said, he can be 6-foot-7, he can be 10 feet – we’re not afraid of that. We’re here to play baseball and win games. We’re not here to fight.
“I don’t know what’s going on over there, but whatever they say, they’re lying. Even his teammates are not on his side. They know he’s wrong. It is what it is. He wants to look at it like that, like he’s right, then fine. Be that guy. Nobody is going to follow that.”
When it was pointed out to Baez that he hopped over the dugout wall like he was ready to fight in a boxing match, he responded, “That’s how bad it was.”
“If he really wants to fight us that bad – first of all, you’re in the wrong sport, because this is baseball,” Baez said. “We’re trying to compete. And like I say, I’m just tired of it. It doesn’t matter who threw it. Like if you really want to fight, then we go one-on-one. This is not a fighting game.”