Schumaker directs Cueto, 13 years after the fight

JUPITER, Fla. (AP) — Skip Schumaker was a Cardinals player 13 years ago when a fight broke out in which then-Reds pitcher Johnny Cueto kicked backup receiver Jason Larue in the head of St. Louis, causing him a career-ending concussion.

Now Schumaker is Miami’s freshman manager and Cueto is on its pitching team.

“It happened a long time ago,” Schumaker said. “We talked and these fights are getting very ugly. You never know what can happen in one. He’s a nice guy, who got carried away for the moment. There are things like that that happen in these fights when the benches are empty.

Cueto was backed into the net behind home plate. He had tried to pull away during the scuffle, which began when Brandon Phillips and Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina faced off and began arguing at home plate.

Cueto was suspended for seven games.

“It was a great rivalry,” Schumaker recalls. “Actually, it had all been a lot of fun until that part happened.”

Cueto, a 37-year-old right-hander, is 143-107 in 15 major league seasons. He won 19 games with Cincinnati in 2012 and 20 in 2014.

In 2016, he has 18 wins with San Francisco.

He pitched last year for the White Sox under former Cardinals coach Tony La Russa.

“A highly respected manager,” Cueto said. “It was a good experience and an honor for me.”

Cueto made a few starts in the preseason, both against St. Louis. After his last victory Friday for the Cardinals, he allowed 11 runs in 4 1/3 innings, including two home runs.

Under liberalized preseason rules, he was taken off the mound in the first inning, returned in the second, and substituted again in the third.

“It’s the first time I’ve done this,” Schumaker said. “I hadn’t planned to do this at the start of the day. But the last thing I want is for him to throw 40 pitches in the first inning. It’s important to get used to the ups and downs.”

Cueto experimented with deciding some pitches on his own, using his own PitchCom device.

“It was a little awkward,” he said.

Schumaker added: “He doesn’t know where the buttons are yet. He always plays with it. A few times he got angry because he didn’t check what he wanted. He does not say what is. So you have to know exactly what you are going to do. »

Cueto plans to pitch for the Dominican Republic at the World Baseball Classic.

“I don’t put the ball where I want. I open a lot with my shoulder… It’s a matter of fine-tuning these details in pre-season, but of course it bothers me when I see the results. I don’t like playing badly in front of my teammates,” he said. “In the Classic it will be different. There will be games in the evening and lots of adrenaline”.