Showalter suspended for opener vs. Braves

NEW YORK -- Major League Baseball suspended Mets manager Buck Showalter on Monday due to the actions of reliever Yoan López, whom MLB believes “intentionally” threw at Kyle Schwarber during Sunday night’s game against the Phillies.

In addition, López received a three-game suspension for throwing multiple pitches inside to Schwarber. Showalter served his suspension in Monday’s game against the Braves, shortly after learning about it. López, who is currently with Triple-A Syracuse, has the right to appeal. He will serve his suspension once he returns to the Majors.

The punishments continued the saga of the 2022 Mets, who have been hit by more pitches than any team in baseball and have also been involved in multiple benches-clearing incidents. Following the Mets’ dustup with the Cardinals on Wednesday in St. Louis, López and Taijuan Walker each received fines, but the only player suspensions from that incident went to Cardinals players Nolan Arenado and Génesis Cabrera.

Showalter and López also received fines as part of Monday’s punishments.

Pitching in the ninth inning of the Mets’ 10-6 win over the Phillies on Sunday, López threw multiple fastballs inside to Schwarber, who had already hit two home runs in the game. After the second of those pitches forced Schwarber to jump out of the batter’s box, home-plate umpire Jerry Meals warned both benches.

López subsequently hit Alec Bohm with a changeup, but Meals did not eject him because the pitch did not appear intentional.

“I think they were trying to hit him,” Phillies manager Joe Girardi said of Schwarber. “But that’s part of the game. We didn’t try to hit [Francisco] Lindor. We didn’t try to hit anyone there. But I understand. You get hit a few times, you start to take exception. I think we hit them with some breaking balls at our park, but it wasn’t on purpose.”

Lindor was hit by a pitch in the eighth inning of Sunday’s game, bringing the Mets’ MLB-leading total to 20 hit batsmen. No other team has more than 16.

Lindor was also hit on the helmet in a game in Washington earlier this season. Pete Alonso has been hit twice on the helmet, including last week in St. Louis. Seemingly in response to that pitch, López threw a brushback fastball to Arenado, who sparked a benches-clearing incident. Afterward, Lindor and Eduardo Escobar paid for López’s fine, and Mets players met with MLB executive vice president of on-field operations Morgan Sword to discuss the rash of hit batsmen.

Now, the Mets’ punishments are moving beyond fines and into the realm of suspensions. Without Showalter on Monday, bench coach Glenn Sherlock served as manager. Showalter was unavailable to comment on the suspension since it happened so close to gametime.