St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina had to be restrained from going at Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo during the second inning of Sunday's game, following some choice words from the D'Backs skipper.
While arguing balls and strikes with home plate umpire Tim Timmons, Lovullo gestured towards Molina and reportedly called him a mother fucker which set the Cardinals catcher off. Molina had to be restrained by Timmons and Cardinals coach Mike Matheny as both benches cleared during the altercation.
"(Lovullo) called me a m-----f----- twice," Molina said after the game, according to reports. "If you're going to call somebody that, you better be ready to fight."
"You can't talk to a player like that. Or an umpire. You've got to be professional," he said, according to MLB.com.
Lovullo was ejected for leaving the dugout to argue balls and strikes but Molina was allowed to remain in the game. After the Diamondbacks' 4-1 victory, Lovullo acknowledged that he used a "poor choice of words" when referencing Molina and added that he has the "utmost respect" for him.
"The first thing I want to say is I have the utmost respect for Yadier Molina. He's one of the best catchers the game's ever seen," he said, per ESPN.
"I just was going out there to talk about something with the umpire and was referencing something and used a poor choice of words and he took offense to it. I wish I could take back what I said but it really wasn't really directed at him. It was more a term of me saying I respect him on that level that he's getting certain things because he's that good," he said.
According to ESPN, Molina said he hopes Major League Baseball will consider fining Lovullo for his comments.