Major League Baseball has handed down its punishments for Sunday’s benches-clearing brawl between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Texas Rangers and it includes six suspensions and a total of 14 players and staff members who were fined. Bautista has said that Odor landed a good shot on him, but that it would take a bigger man to knock him down.
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In the top of the eighth inning, Bautista was intentionally hit by Matt Bush the Rangers pitcher to open the inning.
Ever since Rougned Odor of the Texas Rangers delivered one of the cleanest punches in baseball history on Sunday, it’s drawn major publicity to the MLB.
Four ejections resulted from the fight – Odor and Bautista, Toronto third baseman Josh Donaldson and Texas bench coach Steve Buechele. Yahoo! Sports’ Jeff Passan added that along with the suspension, Odor will receive a $5,000 fine.
Blue Jays manager John Gibbons, ejected earlier in the game but present during the incident, received a three-game suspension, Fox Sports reported. Three-game suspensions are often the standard suspension for purposefully hitting a batter with a pitch. In just his second career big-league appearance, 12 years after being selected with the first overall pick in the 2004 draft, Bush raised tensions in the game by beaning Bautista in the inning before the brawl ignited. It escalated to punches, with Odor connecting with Bautista’s left jaw, knocking his sunglasses off. He said he could not worry about Odor, as he had too many other things to worry about. Just when I was notified after batting practice that I was suspended and fined I placed a call and said I was going to appeal it.
Odor, who viciously punched Jays slugger Jose Bautista in the face, will appeal the suspension.
“I thought that was a little excessive”, Gibbons said. Adrus served the suspension on Tuesday versus Oakland.
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Bautista was in the lineup Tuesday against Tampa Bay and hit a two-run homer in the first for Toronto’s only runs on the night.
