Credit Alex Wood with prescience.
Early in spring training when all anyone was talking about was the Houston Astros’ sign-stealing scam and the discipline meted out by MLB – none of it directed at the players who directly benefited from the scheme – Wood was asked if he thought pitchers might take justice into their own hands this season and throw at Astros hitters.
“I don’t condone that type of behavior,” the Dodgers left-hander said. “But it wouldn’t surprise me if something like that happened, just to be honest. It’s funny because I’m pretty sure it probably will happen. Somebody will take it into their own hands and they’ll get suspended more games than any of those guys got for the biggest cheating scandal in 100 years.
“It’ll be pretty ironic when that happens because I’m sure that’s how it will end up playing out.”
Indeed, it did. MLB suspended Dodgers reliever Joe Kelly eight games Wednesday for throwing a pitch “in the area of the head of Alex Bregman” and taunting Carlos Correa “which led to the benches clearing” in violation of MLB’s health and safety protocols this season.
All of this happened during and immediately after the sixth inning of the Dodgers’ 5-2 victory Tuesday night in their first game at Minute Maid Park since the now-disputed 2017 World Series.
Kelly’s eight-game suspension in a 60-game regular season is the equivalent of a 22-game suspension during a normal 162-game season. He is appealing the suspension and will be eligible to pitch until a hearing is held.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was given a one-game suspension, which he will serve Wednesday. Bench coach Bob Geren will be acting manager.
Astros manager Dusty Baker – who accused the Dodgers of “dirty baseball” following Tuesday’s game – received an undisclosed fine but no suspension.
“I think it’d be wishful thinking to think that we were just gonna come in and play two games and nothing combative to happen, such as last night,” Dodgers right-hander Ross Stripling said earlier in the day before the suspensions were announced. “Joe is as good a candidate as anyone to stir something up even though he wasn’t on that 2017 team. You could tell he was as fired up as anyone.”
In announcing the suspension, MLB cited Kelly’s history of being “suspended in his career for intentional throwing.” That history does not include any discipline for the series-altering pitch that broke Hanley Ramirez’s rib during the first game of the 2013 National League Championship Series when Ramirez was a member of the Dodgers and Kelly was with the St. Louis Cardinals.
After the 3-and-0 fastball behind Bregman’s back, Kelly repeatedly threw over to first base, forcing Bregman to dive back to the base. When Michael Brantley hit a ground ball to the right side of the infield, he and Kelly tangled at first when Kelly covered the base.
Finally, Kelly threw close to Correa before striking him out on a breaking pitch in the dirt to end the inning. Kelly taunted Correa by saying “Nice swing, (expletive)” as he left the field, pouting out his lower lip and causing players from both teams to gather near home plate in a confrontation. No one was ejected.
“Correa was the guy to get out last night. He had a good game, so props to Joe for being able to bear down and throw a good pitch right there and get Correa out,” Stripling recounted. “Then the face that he made is one of the funnier things I’ve ever seen on a baseball field and then obviously it went viral on social media. Now we’re all excited we’ll have new shirts to wear for BP and stuff like that.
“Yeah, tension is running high for sure. But we know with the protocols around COVID-19, we’re not going to go out there and actually put hands on each other or anything like that because we can’t afford to have entire teams getting suspended and things like that.”
Roberts acknowledged he had heard from MLB on Wednesday morning about the incident.
“Yeah, they weren’t pleased,” Roberts said. “Baseball right now, we’re under a microscope which we should be. And so, us as coaches, myself included, I have to do a better job of making sure guys stay on the bench. Last night when tempers flared, I tried to get out there to kind of keep it at bay and minimize it. But I have to make sure guys stay on the bench to follow the social-distancing protocols.”
Roberts said he would address his team before Wednesday’s game, emphasizing the importance of staying strictly obedient to the health-and-safety protocols. But he believed the incident Tuesday had already lowered the tension between the two teams.
“You know, this is something that’s been built up over the course of seven months after kind of the findings,” he said. “So, yeah, I think it just sort of kind of released (it). I think it was unfortunate, but I guess to spin it, it’s a good thing that we got it out of the way, nobody was hurt and we can move on and play baseball.”
Roberts and Baker said they didn’t expect any further incidents in the second game of the series. But Astros right-hander Lance McCullers Jr. seemed to still be upset by Kelly’s actions Wednesday afternoon.
“Joe Kelly threw a ball behind Bregman’s head on 3-and-0, on purpose,” said McCullers who did not pitch in this series against the Dodgers. “Not only did he take it upon himself to send a message, but he wasn’t even part of that (2017 Dodgers) team.
“We knew coming into the game he likes to go off script. What he did was unprofessional.”
ALSO
Roberts still has not named a starter for the Dodgers’ game in Arizona on Friday. However, if that pitcher is going to come from the Dodgers’ alternate training group at USC (Josiah Gray, Mitchell White and Tony Gonsolin are possibilities), he would drive to Arizona on Thursday and meet the team there. …
Clayton Kershaw will return from the injured list before the end of this trip, Roberts said. Kershaw will throw a normal side session (as starters do between starts) on Thursday. That would set him up to start Sunday in Arizona possibly. A Sunday start would allow the Dodgers to give Walker Buehler, Dustin May and Stripling five days’ rest before their next starts in San Diego next week.
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Dodgers’ Joe Kelly suspended 8 games for Astros incident - OCRegister
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