Chicago Cubs done with Contreras-Flowers confrontation

Chicago Cubs catcher Willson Contreras answered questions in several forms of media since Monday night's dust-up with Atlanta Braves catcher Tyler Flowers.

So by late Tuesday afternoon, he sounded weary of the whole thing.

"It's part of the game," he said. "There's a lot that's going on in the game. Both teams want to win the game. Both teams want to play hard. We just take the heat of the moment. After what happened last night, I think it should be over today."

Contreras homered leading off the second inning of Monday night's 8-3 victory over the Braves. As he took off to round the bases, he turned around and said something to Flowers. It also looked like he pointed toward the Braves' bench on the first-base side. When Contreras reached home plate, he and Flowers exchanged unpleasantries, and the benches emptied. No punches were thrown.

Just as he did after Monday's game, Cubs manager Joe Maddon downplayed the incident.

"I really do believe what happened last night is pretty much forgotten," Maddon said. "It was kind of a benign moment.

"I'd be surprised if there was any carry-over right now. I do like the way we responded in general terms. We just came out after that. We played really well. We were very aggressive, very assertive, worked the at-bats we felt were capable of doing. We pitched well. We did a lot of things well, post that moment."

Maddon did have instruction for Contreras, who had words with home-plate umpire John Tumpane during the at-bat.

"You have two options here, Willy," Maddon said. "Just go talk to the umpire nicely or just don't say anything. I don't know exactly what he chose. At that point, it's not between him and Flowers. I don't expect them to hug at home plate or anything like that. But I just want to make sure that he was good with John.

"When you're catching, part of Catching 101 is to build a good relationship with the home-plate umpire, absolutely. In that situation, for me, if you wanted to discuss it, it would be more appropriate to discuss it with the home-plate umpire. I said, 'Either talk to John about it or keep it to yourself.' "

Opposite is attractive:

Joe Maddon said he has liked the Cubs' opposite-field approach of late. Javier Baez hit a game-breaking opposite-field homer in Sunday's victory over the New York Mets. The approach was prevalent again in Monday's series opener against the Braves.

"Early in the season, I thought we were pretty good at it, and we just got away from it," Maddon said. "I'm here to say if we can just go out there with that mentality nightly, that could last for a long time. You could see that for a long time, and we can become the elite offense we're capable of being.

"We're going to hit home runs. Pitchers throw home runs more than hitters hit them. That's hard for guys to understand sometimes."

Rotation roulette:

The Cubs will go with a pitching rotation of Cole Hamels, Jose Quintana and Jon Lester for the Friday-Sunday series at Cincinnati. They're in a stretch of using six starters to give each pitcher a little more rest.