Viral video of Cardinals' Willson Contreras has baseball fans dumbfounded

The St. Louis Cardinals completed a three-game sweep of the Minnesota Twins on Sunday with a 9-2 victory. It's the first time since 2006 that the Cardinals started the season with three consecutive wins. While the Cardinals' opening series sweep excited the fan base, what Willson Contreras did with his bat tape in Saturday's game got everyone in baseball talking. 

Contreras uses his teeth to tear off grip tape…and then puts it in his mouth

According to MLB.com's John Denton, Contreras' batting grip tape was coming loose during his at-bat in the bottom of the third on Saturday's 5-1 win. Contreras, realizing that he needed to be in the batter's box with eight seconds left in the pitch clock, saw that the time ticked down to 11 seconds. Realizing time was short, Contreras gripped the tape with his teeth, tore it off, and stuffed it in his mouth. 

That clip of Contreras ingesting bat tape has gone viral on X.

When asked about it, Contreras admitted it was not a wise decision. 

"That was a bad taste, really bad. I don't try to put [pine tar or sticky spray] on my [bat], but it was disgusting. It was a bad taste."

So what went through Contreras' mind to…eat tape?

"With this clock, you have to do things that are out of your control, and I had to do that instead of striking out. Well, I struck out anyways, but I'd rather strike out swinging rather than by the clock."

Contreras, who moved to first base this offseason, is off to a lackluster start at the plate this season, going 0-for-14 in the series with five strikeouts, including three on Saturday. You can say that this series left a bad taste, in this case literally, in his mouth.

The good news is that it's March, and Contreras has proven to be a reliable offensive player during his tenure in St. Louis. In fact, he has transformed his body to adjust to playing first base and looks "built to mash" this year. Let's hope that Contreras can turn it around against the Los Angeles Angels.