Shildt suspended 1 game for Crew dustup

Cardinals manager Mike Shildt was suspended for one game and has received an undisclosed fine for his actions in Tuesday's benches-clearing incident in Milwaukee, Major League Baseball announced on Wednesday.

Shildt will serve his suspension in Game 2 of Wednesday's doubleheader at Miller Park. The suspension and fine were for the “actions that contributed to inciting the benches-clearing incident” against the Brewers, according to an MLB statement. Shildt said pregame Wednesday that he had a conversation with MLB senior vice president of baseball operations Chris Young earlier that morning.

“I’ve had a conversation. I can’t go further than that,” Shildt said. “Chris Young called me today and we talked through my version, and it was an amicable conversation.”

In the bottom of the fifth inning on Tuesday, Shildt went to check on catcher Yadier Molina after he was hit on his wrist by Ryan Braun’s bat. Catcher’s interference was called, and Shildt acknowledged that he was upset about that call. It was only the third time in Molina's 17-year career that he had been called for catcher's interference, and the first since Sept. 25, 2006.

It was during that check-up that Shildt began commotion with the Brewers' dugout, and he rushed over to the top step to spark the first of several interruptions during the St. Louis’ 18-3 loss. Shildt and Brewers manager Craig Counsell were both ejected.

“I hear chirping out of the dugout -- we don’t start things,” Shildt said after the game. “But we’re not going to take it. I heard something that I didn’t appreciate. I will always have our players’ backs. I will especially have a Hall of Famer and a guy that has the most physical, mental toughness that I have ever managed and may ever manage -- I will always have his back.”

Both Shildt and Counsell declined to elaborate on what set Shildt off, or who said it.

“I don’t know where the insult came from. I feel like it was more directed to me, quite honestly,” Shildt said. “Did I do anything to warrant it? Perhaps. I was staring in the dugout. I will accept that. My hearing doesn’t suffer at all with a mask on. … There was a look in the dugout, there was something said, and at that point, all bets are off.”

Cardinals bench coach Oliver Marmol will manage the second game of Wednesday's doubleheader.