Coach banned for 20 games
Houston Astros hitting coach Alex Cintron received a 20-game suspension and a fine Tuesday for his role in a benchesclearing brawl at Oakland, while Athletics outfielder Ramon Laureano was given a six-game suspension and a fine.
Cintron’s suspension is the longest for an on-field transgression in 15 years, since Texas pitcher Kenny Rogers received 20 games for his altercation with two cameramen in 2005.
“I accept MLB’s suspension and will learn from this,” Cintron said in a statement. “Although I never referenced Ramon’s mother, my actions were inappropriate. I apologize for my part in Sunday’s unfortunate incident.”
Laureano appealed, so his discipline won’t begin Tuesday night against the Angels, Major League Baseball said.
Laureano was hit by a pitch from Humberto Castellanos with one out in the seventh inning of Oakland’s 7-2 victory Sunday. He began exchanging words with a gesturing Cintron then left first base, threw down his batting helmet and began sprinting toward the 41-year-old Cintron.
CARDINALS’ FUTURE
While the Cardinals wait and test and test and test again, Major League Baseball has mapped a route back to the field for the team and started rearranging games so that even if they don’t play a complete season, they can play what commissioner Rob Manfred called a “credible” one.
“I absolutely see a path back for the Cardinals,” Manfred said. “That is dependent on getting enough days with no positives that we’re comfortable that we don’t have any contagion risk. But 100% I see a path back.”
The Cardinals’ on Monday received the results from their Sunday tests and did not have any new positives for COVID-19, two sources confirmed. Manfred outlined how the team must have “multiple days of clean tests” before baseball will clear the club to regather after a second quarantine in 12 days.
Cardinals’ visit to Detroit for a doubleheader Thursday, was postponed.
LATE MONDAY
Angels 10, Athletics 9: Mike Trout snapped a 9-9 tie in the eighth when he blasted his second homer of the game and team-high seventh of the season, a solo shot off Yusmeiro Petit that traveled 426 feet. Oakland third baseman Matt Chapman tied his career high with six RBI in the 3-hour, 41-minute slugfest that Oakland’s nine-game win streak.
Rays 8, Red Sox 7: Kevin Kiermaier hit a tiebreaking, two-run double in the seventh inning, Manuel Margot had four hits and Tampa Bay won its fourth in five games. Kiermaier’s opposite-field line drive off reliever Jeffrey Springs (0-1) rolled all the way to the wall in left-center field. Kiermaier had three RBI.
ELSEWHERE
Indians: Cleveland went a step further than just putting Mike Clevinger and Zach Plesac into quarantine. They’ve been sent away from the team, and it’s not known when they'll be back.
Cleveland placed the two starting pitchers on the restricted list after the righthanders broke team rules and MLB protocols by leaving their hotel in Chicago last weekend and risking exposure to the virus.