Cardinals: Fans love Nolan Arenado’s reaction to benches-clearing drama

Nolan Arenado has played just two regular-season games with the St. Louis Cardinals, but he was ready to fight for them in benches-clearing incident with the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday.

While eyes have been on the bad blood between the Houston Astros and Oakland Athletics to start the 2021 season, things have been pretty tense between the St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds.

On Saturday, Reds outfielder Nick Castellanos yelled in pitcher Jake Woodford’s face after scoring on a wild pitch, before stepping over him like Allen Iverson did to Tyronn Lue back in the day, sparking a benches-clearing incident. Once things got tense, new Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado rushed to the scene to defend his teammates.

Cardinals fans, ofc course, were understandably hyped.

https://twitter.com/LilUziAlex_TV/status/1378465640067915776?s=20

https://twitter.com/HippoPlays25/status/1378464895457460226?s=20

Nolan Arenado may have played two games with the Cardinals, but he will go to war with them

Arenado has only played two regular-season games with the Cardinals following the blockbuster trade this winter that got him off the Colorado Rockies. Despite that, he has shown he will go to war with his new teammates.

The tensions between these two NL Central rivals began on Opening Day, when Castellanos flipped his bat after hitting a two-run homer in the 11-6 loss. In the bottom of the fourth inning, Castellanos was hit by a pitch from Woodford and proceeded to pick up the ball and offer it back to him. Shortly afterwards, the outfielder scored and flexed over Woodford, leading to catcher Yadier Molina to exchange some “pleasantries.” That was when Arenado entered the fray and began jawing with Castellanos.

Castellanos was ejected from the contest, while Arenado transformed into a fan favorite in St. Louis just two games into his tenure.