Yesterday [Thursday, June 9] Major League Baseball announced the suspensions for both players that started the benches-clearing brawl in the Kansas City vs. Baltimore game earlier this week.
Yordano Ventura, the Royals’ pitcher, received a nine-game suspension for throwing at, hitting and wrestling with Manny Machado, the Orioles’ third baseman. Machado received a four-game suspension after charging the mound and wrestling with Ventura. The MLB has said that both players are going to appeal their suspensions.
This is not the first suspension for Ventura, after he received a seven game suspension last season for getting involved in a benches-clearing brawl with the Chicago White Sox. He was also involved in two other benches-clearing brawls last season, but did not received any suspensions for those incidents.
Both teams will miss their players, with the Orioles in first place in the Eastern division, and the Royals only 2.5 games behind Cleveland in the Central division. The Orioles are currently in a four-game series with division rivals Toronto, and the Royals are in a three-game series with their division rivals, the Chicago White Sox.