MLB news: St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies, Trea Turner

Things got testy in the Gateway City between the St. Louis Cardinals and Arizona Diamondbacks, while a pair of Philadelphia Phillies showed off their skills against the Chicago White Sox. These are the moments we are highlighting in today’s MLB news and notes.

St. Louis Cardinals news: Willson Contreras gets heated in the batter’s box

Losing four of their last six games heading into Wednesday’s series finale at Busch Stadium against the Arizona Diamondbacks, frustrations were running high in St. Louis. Those frustrations boiled over publicly on Wednesday in a battle at the plate between Cardinals catcher Willson Contreras and Arizona pitcher Madison Bumgarner.

There was an NSFW barb sent from Bumgarner that seemed to ignite Contreras, who would eventually draw a walk to end the at-bat. The Cardinals catcher did a bat flip after earning the walk, making sure he had the last word in what was a very interesting at-bat.

And afterwards? Well…

MLB news: Philadelphia Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto shows his skills

Sure, there has been plenty of talk this season about the new rules that have encouraged more stolen bases. However, when you have someone behind the plate like J.T. Realmuto, the Phillies can shrug off the worry about extra bases being a weapon for the opponent.

Realmuto showed off his skills on Wednesday against the Chicago White Sox, throwing out a base stealer from his knees while making the throw look somewhat effortless.

Realmuto entered Wednesday’s action second among active MLB catchers (behind Roberto Perez, currently on the 60-day injured list for the San Francisco Giants) in caught stealing percentage at 36.01 percent (511 attempts).

Earlier in that game, Trea Turner hit his first home run as a member of the Phillies. Batting second in the order, Turner sent a pitch from Mike Clevinger 379 feet over the left field fence to get Philadelphia on the board in the Windy City.