Benches Clear after Castellanos Flexes over Pitcher, a breakdown
What Happened
On Opening Day 2021, Reds outfielder Nick Castellanos crushed a homer off Cardinals starter Jack Flaherty and put on a show with a hop, a strut, and a spinning bat flip. The next afternoon at Great American Ball Park, in the bottom of the fourth, Castellanos got drilled in the ribs by St. Louis reliever Jake Woodford. After a wild pitch off Yadier Molina's glove, Castellanos scored, the pitcher landed near him, and Castellanos flexed right in his face. Both benches cleared, with Mike Moustakas playing peacekeeper for the Reds while Jesse Winker patrolled the edges and stirred things up.
Why This Matters
This was the first benches-clearing dustup of the 2021 season, and it came from baseball's oldest unwritten code: flip your bat too hard one day, expect a fastball in the ribs the next. Castellanos drew first blood with the Opening Day showmanship, then escalated with the flex over a downed pitcher, which is what actually triggered the scrum. He was ejected and later suspended two games, though it was eventually reduced. The dust-up set an early tone for a Reds-Cardinals rivalry that simmered all year in the NL Central. It also fed the larger 2021 debate about bat flips and on-field celebrations, with MLB publicly leaning toward letting players express themselves while old-school enforcers like the Cardinals pushed back. Nothing serious happened, but the optics carried weight.
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Key Moments
Who / What Is Involved
Players: Nick Castellanos. Teams: Reds.
Key Terms Mentioned
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momenton the first day of the season
castiano's took flaherty
way deep and he hopped and he skipped
and he candyman
walked his ass out of the box and then
he went full pinwheels on the bat flip
and maybe the cardinals took exception
to it or maybe they didn't but here he
is
the next day in the bottom of the fourth
inning and he's gonna take the first
pitch
right to the ribs arm area
i don't know could have been on purpose
could have not been on purpose i think
he asked yaddy right here like hey
someone throwing at me is that
intentional what's going on maybe that's
what he's asking him right there
and yachty says no no no and then he
goes and he gathers the ball
and he looks at the pitch and he says
you want this one or you want a new one
is this one not working for you you
don't have good control of this one
okay let's get you a new one then he
goes to first base then vado gets a nice
hit and that's going to move him to
third base
and now he's real close to home plate
which is where this all started moose is
in the box
wild pitch off yachty's glove he comes
home
slow mo play play at the plate pitcher
kind of lands on him he flexes right in
his face
pitch is like what the hell
um i don't like that
right in his face whoo down there just
looking at him
pitch is like yeah no i don't like that
i'ma stand up for myself but yadi's
already there and moose is there like i
got it i got it moose is the first line
of defense for the reds
i love that he actually is going to wrap
yachty up and just bring him to the side
and take care of things at the heart of
the battle now on the back end you got
winker
for the reds who's paroling the
perimeter to control it but really
he's just causing more mayhem than not
like he's he's
paroling the outside for people that
aren't
getting in the mix and then telling them
not to get in the mix in like a very
aggressive way
he was being held back while trying to
hold back other people anyway
right here you can see how it all sorts
out you got the pitcher over here
you got castianos over here yachty's
right there it's all in the middle
everyone's just coming and saying hi and
saying how's the season going aren't you
glad to be back
that guy looks like he wears a lot of
eyeliner that guy looks like he's lead
singer fallout boy
who is that who is that who's this guy
and what's up with his eyes a lot of
people say that i look like i wear a guy
liner
that dude i mean pretty eyes castianos
pretty guy himself he's just standing on
the outside now he hasn't reacted
to anything and now you can see moose go
you know i love you bro
got nothing but respect for you bro i
know i got it i got it
i'll talk to him i'll talk to him so
mustache is a peacekeeper and then they
go and they have their own shot they get
out of the way and
i like this castianos got his arms
behind his back he's letting yachty just
talk into him and yeah he's probably
saying
this and yeah he's saying that and yet
he's saying respect and yadi's saying
this and
rookie and team and stick up for him
then out of nowhere
the bullpens were getting into it on
their way back to the bullpens and
Eugenio Suarez got shoved right there
williams is all fired up
they're holding each other back both
teams wearing red caps didn't help
anyone in this situation
Jordan Hicks is so mad i don't
understand what Jordan Hicks is so mad
about like i tried to look at this a
bunch of times and
i think he was mad look at him he's just
like [ __ ] you
and then hicks points the guy out he was
like no damn him him get
i think he's mad that someone on the
reds is continuously holding
someone on the cardinal's back and he
was saying like get off him either way
castiano's
still arms behind his back like i'm not
causing trouble all i did was wheeling
into his face arm's still behind his
back
looking good so that's your first
benches clearing of the season
and how much happened is about nothing
and how exciting it was is about
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