Major League Baseball confirmed on Friday that Detroit Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera, who started the first benches-clearing incident and engaged in fighting during Thursday’s game against the New York Yankees at Comerica Park, has been suspended seven games.
Gary Sanchez, the All-Star catcher for the Yankees, was suspended for four games for punching and fighting.
Additionally, Tigers pitcher Alex Wilson received a four-game suspension for purposefully pitching Todd Frazier while both parties had been issued warnings.
Austin Romine, a catcher with the Yankees, was suspended for two games for fighting and punching.
Since all four players have said they will file an appeal, they will be allowed to play until those decisions are made. Due to Wilson’s suspension, Tigers manager Brad Ausmus’s one-game suspension for Wilson’s deliberate acts while warnings were in effect is also on hold.
Ausmus remarked, “I figured because it started with Miggy that his would be big,” in reference to the duration of the suspension. To be honest, I was really aback by how brief Gary Sanchez’s is, especially after watching some of the film. That one surprised me the most, I believe. I predicted that he would receive the longest suspension.
Undisclosed fines were also awarded to the five suspended individuals.
The following people also received fines for their roles in the incidents: Tigers shortstop Jose Iglesias, Yankees manager Joe Girardi, bench coach and acting manager Rob Thomson, Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner, and Yankees pitcher Tommy Kahnle. Furthermore, first baseman Garrett Cooper and outfielder Clint Frazier of the Yankees were fined for using the field while on the disabled list.
After the Yankees catcher homered off Detroit pitcher Michael Fulmer, Fulmer struck Sanchez to ignite the fight.
Fulmer was not subject to a fine or suspension. When asked if he believed it was acceptable that Fulmer did not receive a penalty, Girardi only grinned slightly. The manager did not want to respond
The first brawl broke out at home plate between Cabrera and Romine, causing both dugouts to evacuate in the sixth inning. The bout was a part of an insane day in which both sides traded punches and struck batters. Cabrera and Romine were removed from the situation, but they weren’t alone. Girardi and Kahnle were dismissed in the sixth inning, Thomson and reliever Dellin Betances in the seventh, and Ausmus and Wilson in the eighth, all in different instances.
Sanchez has been criticized for what were perceived as sucker punches, after he hit Cabrera and Nicholas Castellanos when they were defenseless.
Baseball Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez, who once threw down Yankees coach Don Zimmer during a fight, said that Sanchez “could be badly remembered for this for a long time.”
“He’s entitled to his opinion,” Sanchez said. “If he feels like that, that’s him.”
A series of events led to Cabrera and Romine jawing in the sixth. Cabrera made the first move by pushing Romine in the chest and taking a swing.
“I still think I was defending myself,” Romine said. “Obviously, we are going to have to appeal it.”
Girardi said the Yankees would try to stagger the suspensions so that they have either Sanchez or Romine available. Girardi said he did not know who would serve as the backup when Sanchez and Romine are out. The Yankees’ top minor league catcher is Kyle Higashioka.
Just before the fight, Yankees reliever Kahnle had fired a pitch behind Cabrera. Kahnle was immediately thrown out by plate ump Carlos Torres.
“It’s MLB. They can do whatever they want, and they have to control the situation. But be fair,” Cabrera said. “Watch the video. See the people throw punches. See the people go after me when I was on the floor. I don’t ask that you give me fewer games. I don’t care. I take my responsibility. But come on.
“The guy [Kahnle] who threw at me? He said, ‘No, it was an inside pitch.’ Come on. Say the truth. Why not say the truth? I think that’s bulls—.”
Cabrera also singled out Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, who was not suspended or fined.
“My point is, why are they not saying anything about Judge? He tried to hit me, go after me on the floor,” Cabrera said. “They didn’t suspend him. There was a lot of people going after me and they didn’t get a suspension.
“[Judge] is going to get away [with it]? And the pitcher who threw at me, he’s going to get away [with it] too, with no suspension? That’s bulls—.”
Speaking with reporters before Friday’s game, Ausmus strongly denied a claim made by Girardi that he had yelled an obscenity at Gardner when the benches cleared for a third and final time in the eighth inning.
Ausmus said Girardi “didn’t have the right information.”
“That’s not what happened,” Ausmus said. “I’ve known Joe since 1993, when we were together with the Rockies. I have a lot of respect for Joe. But he had been ejected from the game, and he was getting information secondhand.
“There was no unsolicited, ‘F— you,’ to Brett Gardner, I promise you that.”
Ausmus explained his side of the story, saying that he noticed Gardner staring him down when the benches cleared early in the game and that Gardner was glaring at him again when the benches cleared in the eighth.
