Asdrubal suspended (4) for ejection conduct

ARLINGTON -- Rangers third baseman Asdrúbal Cabrera has been suspended by Major League Baseball for throwing equipment after being ejected from Thursday’s game against the Indians.

Cabrera is appealing the suspension, and the punishment will be held in abeyance until the process is complete. Joe Torre, chief baseball officer for MLB, made the announcement.

“It’s pretty steep,” manager Chris Woodward said.

Cabrera, batting against Indians starter Shane Bieber, was called out on strikes in the sixth inning by home-plate umpire Doug Eddings. He returned to the dugout and continued arguing while Willie Calhoun was at the plate.

He was ejected after the second pitch to Calhoun. Woodward went out to argue with Eddings until third-base umpire Bill Miller intervened. At that point, Cabrera threw his shin guard with his batting gloves inside. The equipment clipped both Woodward and Miller in the foot.

"I wasn't trying to hit anybody,” Cabrera said. “I think the umpire is the last guy you want to hit. I was just trying to throw the gloves out there to let him know I was [unhappy] instead of walking back to home plate."

It was the third time Cabrera struck out in the game. On the other two, he went down swinging but not on the 2-2 pitch from Bieber in the sixth.

"I saw it was a ball,” Cabrera said. “It's been happening all year. If you do it to me on the first pitch or the second pitch, I don't care because I still have pitches left, but when you take the bat out of my hand, that's not right. At some point you are going to get mad."

Woodward thought it was a quick ejection and expressed those thoughts to Eddings and Miller.

“Cabrera has a lot of pride and sometimes that leads to angry results when things don’t go your way,” Woodward said. “It has been a part of baseball’s history forever. Guys complain about balls and strikes and pitchers do the same. Guys get mad when they get called out at first, and they are not.”