Puig is appealing brawl ban

Yasiel Puig hit cleanup Aug. 1 in his first game as a Cleveland Indian. His next order of business will be cleaning up a mess he helped make when he was employed by the Reds.

Puig was suspended by Major League Baseball for three games for his involvement in a brawl with the Pirates in the ninth inning of a game July 30 in Cincinnati.

The trade that sent Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer to Cincinnati for Puig and left-handed pitcher Scott Moss was being finalized about the same time the fight broke out. The Indians also got outfielder Franmil Reyes, lefthanded pitcher Logan Allen and infielder Victor Nova from San Diego as part of a three-team trade.

“I don’t have too much to say about (the suspension),” Puig said before the Indians and Astros played the rubber match of their three-game series. “We’re going to appeal.

Things happen in the moment like that when you throw the ball to one of your teammates. You need to go out and defend your teammates. After that, everybody outside the baseball field, we are friends. Thank God there was no injuries for either side. We’ll see what’s going to happen in the next couple of days.”

Puig was suspended two games earlier in the season for his part in a benchesclearing brawl between the Reds and Pirates on April 7.

Puig was in the unique position July 30 of answering questions about the fight and about the trade in the same postgame interview.

“I didn’t want to laugh in the moment and get too excited because I needed to respect my other teammates because we lost that night and we were coming back from a fight, or an altercation between both teams,” Puig said. “But I was excited and went home and talked to my family and all my friends.

“My friends said that they needed to buy a new hat and a new jersey. I said OK, this is part of the job and now we’re going to be in a better place. Now we’re here and going out today to do the best I can to help this team to win.”

Puig, 28, will be a free agent after the World Series without a new contract.

JEFF SCHUDEL — THE NEWS-HERALD Yasiel Puig addresses reporters before the Indians faced the Astros on Aug. 1 at Progressive Field.