Odor, Bautista among 14 disciplined for brawl
Major League Baseball handed down discipline on Tuesday for a total of 14 players and staff members in the wake of Sunday's incident between the Blue Jays and Rangers.
The most severe penalty was given to Texas second baseman Rougned Odor, who landed a punch on Jose Bautista's jaw after the Toronto outfielder slid into second base in the top of the eighth inning of Sunday's game at Globe Life Park.
Since 2000, Odor's eight-game suspension for fighting is two fewer than the penalty levied upon Cubs catcher Michael Barrett for punching then-White Sox backstop A.J. Pierzynski in '06 and then-D-backs pitcher Ian Kennedy for starting a melee with the Dodgers in '13 with high inside pitches.
Blue Jays pitcher Jesse Chavez was suspended three games for intentionally throwing at Prince Fielder in the bottom of the eighth after warnings had been issued to both benches.
Bautista and Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus were each suspended for one game, Bautista for his actions on the field and his postgame comments and Andrus for his "aggressive actions" after the benches emptied.
Odor and Bautista have notified MLB of their intention to appeal, and both were available to play Tuesday night.
The suspension of Chavez was scheduled to begin Tuesday night. If he elects to appeal, it will be held in abeyance until the process is complete.
Andrus did not appeal, and he will be eligible to return to the lineup Wednesday.
In addition, Blue Jays manager John Gibbons was suspended three games because he returned to the field after being ejected earlier in the game and incited further fighting, while first-base coach Tim Leiper will miss one game for returning to the dugout after being ejected. Both also received undisclosed fines.
Further fines were given to Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson and outfielder Kevin Pillar, both for aggressive actions, and bench coach DeMarlo Hale who, as acting manager, received the standard discipline that occurs when a pitcher (Chavez) is judged to have intentionally thrown at a hitter with warnings in effect.
"We knew that suspensions were possible," Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. "There are precedents for this. We knew that. We'll deal with it and move on."
The altercation started when Rangers pitcher Matt Bush hit Bautista with a pitch. Bautista responded with a hard slide into Odor at second base that touched off the fracas. The umpires ruled that Bautista had violated the new rules governing the proper way to break up double plays.
Bush was fined for throwing at Bautista. Other Rangers who were fined were pitcher Sam Dyson and bench coach Steve Buechele (aggressive actions) plus A.J. Griffin and Robinson Chirinos (going on the field while being on the disabled list).
There has been bad blood between the teams since Bautista flipped his bat after his three-run homer helped Toronto come back to beat the Rangers in Game 5 of the American League Division Series last October.
"This is the first time I have been through this," Odor said. "I'm not sure what was going to happen. I talked to my agent and now I am waiting to see what will happen."