Garza sends message to Cueto and the Reds.

The final day of the Cubs' road trip provided some postgame fireworks as Matt Garza sent a warning to Reds pitcher Johnny Cueto after an alleged purpose pitch.

Garza, who lasted only four innings in the second start of his comeback, said the league should investigate an incident in which Cueto threw a pitch over the head of David DeJesus in the sixth inning.

"It's kind of b.s. on his part, just totally immature," Garza said. "If he has something to say about it, he knows where to find my locker and definitely I'll find his. I took total disrespect out of that one."

The Cubs came back from a four-run deficit to beat the Reds 5-4 in 10 innings, ending a six-game losing streak in surprising fashion.

After the pitch over DeJesus' head, plate umpire Bob Davidson issued a warning to both teams before Garza issued one of his own.

"Cueto should learn, you don't go after guys' heads," Garza said. "Don't wake a sleeping dog. I think that's kind of immature on his part and totally uncalled for. He's lucky retaliation isn't in our vocabulary here."

Garza said DeJesus "plays the game the right way" and didn't deserve the purpose pitch.

"If Cueto has any problem, he can throw at me and I'll definitely return the favor," he said. "I didn't like that one bit. We don't retaliate. We just take it game by game and try to better ourselves. Hopefully he learns to grow the hell up. ... You're up 4-0. Grow up. I hope he hears this because I really don't care."

Manager Dale Sveum said DeJesus apparently annoyed Cueto by stepping out of the box before a pitch in the first inning. He said Davidson told him Cueto was "goofing around trying to throw over his head."

Sveum asked Davidson why he didn't thrown Cueto out of the game.

"He said, 'Because I know he wasn't trying to hit him,'" Sveum said.

Sveum said the incident "woke the dugout up." After Cueto left with a 4-1 lead, Alfonso Soriano tied it with a two-run homer in the eighth, and Welington Castillo's RBI double won it in the 10th.

Garza said it took "a lot of effort" for a pitcher with Cueto's style to throw a pitch over a left-handed hitters' head.

"I don't know what the deal is between him and (DeJesus), but he needs to cut it out because I'll stop it," he said. "And that's just the way it goes. If he wants to do it like that, then so be it. … This could be a warning. This could be just nonsense. However he takes it. But I don't like (it when) the game was played that way.

"You don't throw with intent and try to hit someone. Hopefully the league looks at that. I don't want him to get suspended or anything. I just want him to learn a lesson. Hopefully his (teammates) will warn him and say 'Hey, take a look at this.'

"But it is what it is. They run their own show. We run our show, and we'll see them again in a month."

In response to that.....................................

Dusty came out of his shell. Baker, following a tiff between the Chicago Cubs and one of his pitchers, suggested that Major League Baseball use hockey's time-honored tactics when it comes to settling disputes on the field: Let the players fight.

In this case, Matt Garza of the Cubs and Johnny Cueto of the Reds. From C. Trent Rosecrans of Cincinnati.com:

Baker went one further: “Just put them in a room, let them box and let it be over with,” he added. “I always said this, let it be like hockey, let them fight, someone hits the ground and it’s over with. I’m serious about that.

Baker to Garza: Say it to Cueto's face

Cincinnati manager Dusty Baker responded to Matt Garza's warning to Reds pitcher Johnny Cueto, saying Garza should've settled the matter himself instead of talking about it.

John G. Dunn II