Major League Baseball : suspends Pitcher’s indefinitely for violation of league’s substance abuse policy
According to Anthony DiComo of MLB.com, Yohan Ramírez of the New York Mets and manager Carlos Mendoza have both been suspended by Major League Baseball for their deliberate pitches against Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Rhys Hoskins on Saturday.
Mendoza was only suspended for one game and will serve his suspension on Sunday, whereas Ramírez received three game suspensions, but he is appealing.
In the seventh inning of the game on Saturday, Ramírez threw at Hoskins and was ejected. The pitch included a lot of background information.
Though the official replay revealed no transgression on Hoskins’ part, Mets second baseman Jeff McNeil took issue with a slide into second base made by Hoskins during the teams’ Friday Opening Day game, obviously felt it was dirty.
That led to the benches clearing, an animated McNeil cursing at Hoskins and the Brewers’ first baseman pantomiming a crybaby gesture in response.
Hoskins said after Friday’s game that he didn’t understand what McNeil was upset about, while McNeil claimed that Hoskins has a history of dirty slides:
That set the stage for Saturday. Hoskins—who is no stranger to a rivalry with the Mets after spending the first seven seasons of his career with the Philadelphia Phillies—absolutely torched New York, going 3-for-4 with a homer and four RBI.
He implied that he didn’t believe the pitch that sailed past his head was an accident.
“Big leaguers don’t miss by eight feet,” he told reporters. “… Yeah. Whether it was on purpose or not, that’s not for me to decide. I really don’t care. But this game has had a way of policing itself for many, many, many years. So let’s focus on doing it the right way if we’re going to do that.”
Ramírez argued that he lost grip on his sinker, leading to the wild pitch.
“I was trying to throw my sinker inside, and sometimes when I try to get it too in, the ball just runs, honestly,” he said. “With this type of weather, I don’t have the grip that I’m accustomed to having. At that point, the ball just ran. But I wasn’t trying to hit him.”
