Puig gets 1 game for giving 2 fingers
USA TODAY
Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig has been suspended one game and fined by Major League Baseball for making an obscene gesture to Indians fans on Tuesday night.
Puig flashed the middle finger on both hands at fans sitting behind home plate at Progressive Field after hitting a home run in the second inning. Baseball executive Joe Torre announced the one-game penalty and undisclosed fine.
Puig appealed the decision and played Wednesday night, getting booed each time he stepped to the plate. He went 1-for-4 with two strikeouts in the Dodgers 5-4 win over Cleveland which included Andrew Miller allowing a tie-breaking homer to pinch-hitter Kike Hernandez in the eighth inning.
Puig said he “stooped” to the level of fans who he said were heckling him in the on-deck circle on Tuesday. Puig said that the group of fans kept talking to him after the home run.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts spoke with Puig about the incident Wednesday. The manager addressed the media before the suspension was announced.
“I made it clear I was not pleased with what he did,” Roberts said.
l Welington Castillo hit a grand slam and drove in a career-high five runs, and the Baltimore Orioles snapped a six-game losing streak with a rain-delayed 10-6 victory over the host Chicago White Sox.
l Derek Fisher homered and had an RBI single for his first major league hits in a nine-run sixth inning to help the host Houston Astros to a 13-2 victory over the Texas Rangers.
Fisher is the first player to get the first two hits of his career in the same inning since Adam Laroche did it for the Braves on April 7, 2004.
SEX OFFENDER UNDRAFTED
Oregon State pitcher Luke Heimlich, who as a teenager pleaded guilty to molesting a 6-year-old girl, was not taken in Major League Baseball’s draft.
Heimlich was the top pitcher during the regular season for the No. 1-ranked Beavers, who have lost just four games and are headed to the College World Series starting this weekend in Omaha.
Heimlich has compiled an 11-1 record with a 0.76 ERA. The left-hander from Puyallup, Washington, had been projected to be an early round pick.
Prosecutors initially charged Heimlich with two counts of molestation for abuse that began when the girl was 4.