The day after a bench-clearing brawl between the the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres that saw both managers getting ejected, MLB is handing down punishments.
The league announced Friday that Padres reliever Robert Suarez, who hit Shohei Ohtani with a pitch in retaliation, has been suspended three games, and has also been fined. Suarez is appealing the ruling, so discipline will be held off until the appeal is approved or denied.
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In addition, San Diego manager Mike Shildt and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts have both been suspended one game, and have been fined as a result of their behavior. The league said that Shildt and Roberts were being punished for “unsportsmanlike conduct and for contributing to inciting the benches-clearing incident.”
As a result, Shildt will miss the Padres’ game against the Kansas City Royals on Friday night, while Roberts will miss Friday’s matchup against the Washington Nationals.
The fight began in the ninth inning of Thursday’s game, as Dodgers rookie Jack Little — who was making his major league debut — hit Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr. on the wrist with a wild pitch. It had already been a testy four-game series, and the hit-by-pitch caused emotions to boil over on both sides.
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Shildt walked onto the field, yelling at the Dodgers dugout as he went to check on Tatis — leading Roberts to come out and yell right back. Both benches cleared as a result of the fight, with plenty of shoving on both sides.
Both managers were ejected. Suarez, after taking his shot at Ohtani from the mound, was ejected as well. (Little was sent back down to the minors earlier on Friday, though it is likely unrelated.)
The Padres went on to win the game, 5-3, to avoid a sweep.
X-rays on Tatis’ wrist came back negative on Thursday, but the outfielder said after the game that the results were “kind of inconclusive.” However, Tatis made it into the Padres’ lineup on Friday, indicating that he is good to go moving forward.
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When speaking to reporters on Friday, Roberts said that MLB “made the right decision.”
“I never want to make the game about the managers,” Roberts said. “Last night, both managers were protecting their teams and unfortunately it got to a point that we became the focus, and that’s not the way it should be.”
