Pittsburgh Pirates starter Chris Archer received a five-game suspension, and Cincinnati Reds outfielder Yasiel Puig got a two-game ban for their roles in a melee Sunday at PNC Park.
Reds manager David Bell also received a one-game suspension and, like Puig, an undisclosed fan for what the league called their “aggressive actions during the incident.” Bell and Puig will begin serving their suspensions Tuesday night, while Archer’s ban is subject to appeal. He was also fined.
The benches-clearing incident happened in the top of the fourth inning of the Reds’ 7-5 loss to the Pirates.
Archer threw a 93 mph fastball behind Reds first baseman Derek Dietrich‘s back to spark the incident. Dietrich had homered in the second inning and had stared at his blast before circling the bases, apparently angering Archer.
Warnings were issued to both teams, but Bell came onto the field to argue with home plate umpire Jeff Kellogg that Archer should have been ejected. Players from both teams then began to push one another.
After the situation seemed to settle down, Puig charged toward Pirates pitcher Trevor Williams at home plate and had to be restrained, reigniting the incident. Puig grabbed Pirates bench coach Tom Prince and tried to put him in a headlock.
Three Reds (Bell, Puig and relief pitcher Amir Garrett) and two Pirates (relievers Keone Kela and Felipe Vazquez) were ejected.
“I was trying to go in,” Archer said. “I air-mailed a couple balls today, a couple that I was trying to elevate, a couple that I yanked when righties were up there. Another one that I just yanked.”
“I missed — missed my spot,” he added.
Puig said pitchers shouldn’t try to hit batters because a batter can’t retaliate in the same way.
“When people watch the ball go far away or do bat flips, like I do before, in the next [at-bat] try to strike out the guy,” Puig said. “Don’t try to hit the guy, because we can’t defend you back because we can’t hit you with a bat or nothing.”
Dietrich’s 436-foot drive to right-center gave the Reds a 2-1 lead. Dietrich dropped his bat and stood in the batter’s box and watched the ball clear the fence atop the Clemente Wall and bounce into the Allegheny River.
Pirates catcher Francisco Cervelli had words for Dietrich when he crossed home plate. Dietrich said that exchange of words probably resulted in the fourth-inning hostilities.
“That’s probably where it started. I didn’t say anything, I didn’t flip my bat, nothing on my end. So people see it differently. Most hitters see it as a good swing, some pitchers see it as ‘Oh he’s trying to show me up.’ I don’t know where the game’s going these days,” he said. “Everyone loves to play and have fun, but I let my bat do the talking. It was good to see the guys had my back, especially my manager. We’re not trying to intentionally hurt anybody; we’re just trying to play baseball, play hard, but unfortunately things happen.”
Vazquez said he was ejected for entering the field without his uniform top.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.