Reds' Castellanos scores after HBP, sparks benches clearing vs. Cardinals

Tensions boiled over between the Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals in the fourth inning on Saturday after Nick Castellanos scored and celebrated at home plate by standing over pitcher Jake Woodford.

Castellanos, who reached base after being hit by a pitch in the fourth and then advanced to third on a single from Joey Votto, wound up scoring when Woodford threw a wild pitch with Mike Moustakas at the plate.

The outfielder slid home on a close tag play, making contact with Woodford before getting up and staring him down.

Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina quickly took exception to Castellanos' stare down and attempted to confront the slugger, while Moustakas stepped in to try to separate the two. Both team's benches cleared, but no punches were thrown.

Castellanos was the sole player ejected. After the game, home-plate umpire Jim Reynolds said that Castellanos reengaging with the pitcher in "unnecessary fashion" led to the ejection, according to Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer.

The altercation seems to stem from Castellanos hitting a homer on Opening Day off Cardinals ace Jack Flaherty and skipping to start his trot to first base.

Following the game, Cards pitcher Adam Wainwright, who started Saturday's contest, said there was no intent behind Castellanos' plunking.

"I never thought about it," Wainwright said, according to Katie Woo of The Athletic. "It was never mentioned in the scouting report. ... Listen, you're not going to tell your pitcher, Woodford, a rookie who's got a month in the big leagues to go hit him right there."

While Wainwright didn't have any issue with Castellanos' home run celebration on Opening Day, he did take umbrage with the 29-year-old offering the ball he was plunked with back.

"You never offer the ball back to the pitcher, though," he said, according to Zachary Silver of MLB.com. "That's tired. He should know better than that."

Despite Molina getting angry at Castellanos, the Reds veteran still praised the All-Star catcher.

"That guy could have punched me in the face and I'd still ask him for a signed jersey," Castellanos said, according to Mark Sheldon of MLB.com.

The Reds wound up winning 9-6. The finale of the three-game season-opening set gets underway on Sunday, with Jeff Hoffman slated to face Carlos Martinez.