Cubs' Baez fires back at Hurdle's criticism: 'They can save it'

Javy Baez is anything but shy, so when Pittsburgh Pirates manager Clint Hurdle called him and Chicago Cubs teammate Willson Contreras out after Wednesday's game, it was only a matter of time before he responded.

"We won (last night) and it got to him," Baez told The Athletic's Patrick Mooney. "We lost the series, but we're still the same. I'm happy. There's music in the clubhouse. There's nothing to take personal. People that talk about me, they can save it. I don't control it. I don't really care about it."

Hurdle took issue with Baez after the fiery infielder flipped his bat after popping out. "Where's the respect for the game?" Hurdle said.

Baez didn't seem to like the insinuation.

"I bust my ass every day to play hard," he said. "No one plays this game harder than me. I respect 90. But you don't go out there and talk trash about someone.

"To be honest, I got a lot of things I can say right now," Baez added. "But I don't control what's out there, what people talk about me. I'm just going to keep playing my game."

His game has been a pretty good of late, too. While he went hitless in Thursday's series finale, Baez had gone a combined 4-for-8 with four home runs in the first two games of the series.