St. Louis Cardinals pitcher, Miles Mikolas, was ejected in the 1st inning for purposefully hitting the Cubs batter, Ian Happ, with a pitch on Thursday.

Moments earlier, Happ had swung at and missed one of Mikolas’ pitches, but on the backswing struck the catcher, Willson Contreras, in the head. As a result, Contreras was forced to leave the game with a bleeding gash on his head, according to the MLB. Although it seemed like an accident, Mikolas was determined to show the St. Louis fans he was not okay with the mishap.

He hit Happ with the next pitch and was thrown out without a warning, reported USA Today.

Ian Happ hit Willson Contreras on a backswing and Contreras was removed from the game

Two pitches later, Miles Mikolas hit Happ with a pitch. Mikolas and Oli Marmol were ejected from the game pic.twitter.com/vP3LgdRn3X

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) July 28, 2023

“In any circumstance, I’ve got Willson’s back; he’s my catcher, and I consider him a really good friend now,” Mikolas said. “Any single one of these guys in this locker room, I go to bat for them 100 percent. That’s something we as a team believe in, always having each other’s backs. I guess that’s what the umpires thought I was doing, and it’s unfortunate there was no warning or anything.”

Contreras, a former Cubs player, went straight to the ground after being hit in the head. With no sign of concussion the player requested to stay in the game, but seeing as he was bleeding officials denied his request and he was forced to sit out, per the MLB.

“We played together for six years, we’re good friends and have a lot of love for him, so to see him go down and be bleeding from the head, it’s obviously a scary moment,” said Happ after the game.

Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol was also ejected from the game. Umpires usually issue a warning in situations such as these, according to Yahoo Sports. After Mikolas was ejected without any warning, Marmol argued with officials over the call and was also ejected as a result. (RELATED: Yankees Fan Caught Red-Handed Dumping Ice Cream And BBQ Sauce On Rival Fan)

“If the explanation was that there was intent behind the first pitch, then I feel like there should have been a warning after that first pitch, and it could have saved everybody a lot of trouble,” Marmol said in an interview after the game.

The Cardinals lost 10-3.