The Cardinals came back and held on to beat the Braves 7-6 in Game 1 of the NLDS Thursday night and even in victory they came off as huge jags, specifically closer Carlos Martinez.
Down 3-1 in the eighth inning, the Cardinals tied the game at three with a Matt Carpenter single and then they scored four runs in the ninth to take a 7-3 lead. However, the Braves came storming right back in the bottom of the ninth, as Ronald Acuña Jr. blasted a two-run homer and Freddie Freeman drilled a solo homer against Martinez to cut the deficit down to one.
Unfortunately for the Braves that's as close as they got, dropping the series opener at home. After the game Martinez was still upset at Acuña and if you hear sirens nearby you know that the baseball police was on patrol last night.
Martinez was mad that Acuña didn't respect the game and especially him, being a veteran. Of all people, Yadier Molina had to calm him down.
Here's the home run by Acuña and him running the bases that was so offensive to the Cardinals right-hander.
WOW! How disrespectful!
What the hell is Martinez even talking about? So, if he wasn't a veteran player then whatever he thought Acuña did was bad wouldn't be a big deal? If Acuña was a veteran player, then it would be OK? And wait, how many years do you have to play to be considered a veteran player?
Oh and by the way, after escaping the ninth inning, Martinez respectfully celebrated.
By the way, you're probably wondering exactly what set off Martinez.
Acuña started to do that little stutter step as he approaches third base after a home run this year to honor his favorite player, Miguel Cabrera, who the young Braves outfielder admired so much that he compared watching Cabrera play like "seeing the president." Both players are from Venezuela.
I mean, if anything, how about making fun of Acuña for looking at a ball earlier in the game that didn't go out and he ended up with a long single.
But no, complain about a dude running the bases a little differently. Hilarious.
