ST. LOUIS -- Kyle Hendricks admits that he had to laugh watching Cubs manager Joe Maddon argue with home-plate umpire Joe West in the ninth inning of the team's 4-1 win over the Cardinals on Monday.
Hendricks knew that he was going to be pulled after losing his bid for a no-hitter when Jeremy Hazelbaker led off the Cardinals' ninth with a home run. Aroldis Chapman was warming up in the bullpen but apparently wasn't quite ready.
Catcher Miguel Montero exchanged a few words with West, although he isn't exactly sure why.
"I really didn't understand why he was arguing with me," Montero said. "[West] tapped me on the shoulder. He said, 'If you go out there [to the mound], I'm going to count it as a visit.' I said, 'What's going on? Is that possible? I don't know if that rule exists.'
"I said, 'You know what, it doesn't matter, because he's coming out of the game,'" Montero said. "That's when [Maddon] came out, and after that I'm not responsible for what happened."
Maddon and West had an animated exchange while the Cubs' infield gathered on the mound around Hendricks.
"I knew [Maddon] was trying to get some time," Hendricks said. "We were laughing a little bit about it on the mound -- it's the only way to relieve the situation after the homer."
Maddon, however, was ejected for the third time this season and 46th time as a manager.
"There was a misinterpretation there," Maddon said. "We needed a little more time to get the pitcher ready based on the situation. I needed the catcher to go out to the mound, that's all. That's it. That's it. We were denied, and I didn't like that, so I made my stand. I truly believe we were proper in that."
West's reaction was unexpected, and Maddon figured he'd try to understand the situation better before taking his protest a step further. After he was ejected, he went to the mound to pull Hendricks, but first-base umpire Andy Fletcher came over to remind him he'd been tossed.
"I was not even supposed to go out there," Maddon said. "That's not going to stop me from walking out there. It was inappropriate what happened, so I was not going to be very honorable at that particular moment."