The Phillies-Cardinals game in St. Louis turned tense fast in the sixth inning. With the score tied 3-3, Bryce Harper led off the inning and took a 96 mph fastball to the face on the first pitch from reliever Génesis Cabrera. Harper went down, clearly shaken, but managed to walk off under his own power with visible blood. The next pitch, also a fastball, drilled Didi Gregorius in the ribs. Cabrera reacted in disbelief, signaling it wasn’t intentional, but the back-to-back beanings raised immediate concern.
The umpires huddled and decided to issue warnings to both teams rather than eject Cabrera. That move frustrated Phillies manager Joe Girardi, who felt Cabrera should’ve been tossed. Girardi got heated with the umpire, was eventually ejected himself, and added some parting words about throwing strikes. Emotions boiled over on both sides, but the game moved on. Andrew McCutchen came up next and delivered with a go-ahead RBI to put the Phillies in front. Cabrera was then pulled after a nightmare sequence: two HBPs, lost lead, and no outs recorded. The whole bench seemed to give him consolation as he left the mound.