CHICAGO — In recent weeks, Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol disclosed that Nolan Arenado is the most competitive player he has ever worked with at the Major League level.
During Wednesday’s 7-1 loss to the Cubs at Wrigley Field, Arenado’s fiery competitiveness spilled over and resulted in the seventh ejection of his stellar 10-year MLB career.
Hitting with runners on first and second and the count full with two outs in the third inning, Arenado appeared to hold up on a check swing before taking a step towards first base. At that point, home-plate umpire John Libka ruled that Arenado went too far on the swing and the All-Star slugger was out on strikes.
Arenado reacted angrily, stomping his way back to Libka to object to him making the call without at least asking for help from the first-base umpire. When Arenado continued to argue, Libka ejected the nine-time Gold Glove winner. Arenado was tossed — his second ejection of the season — before Marmol could get out of the dugout to get in between his superstar third baseman and Libka. Marmol could be heard and seen complaining to Libka about his “quick trigger” in ejecting Arenado.
The ejection was a blow to a Cardinals team that had already given superstar first baseman Paul Goldschmidt the night off. Rather than inserting Goldschmidt into the game, the Cardinals put Paul DeJong in at shortstop and moved Tommy Edman from short to third base.
Arenado came into Wednesday slashing .349/.402/.711 with seven home runs, nine doubles and 22 RBIs in 21 games in August.
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