MLB officials suspend Dodgers’ Utley 2 games

NEW YORK—Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman Chase Utley was suspended two playoff games Sunday night for his late takeout slide that broke New York Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada’s right leg.

In handing down the penalty, Major League Baseball executive Joe Torre called it an illegal slide. Umpires ruled it a legal play Saturday night.

Torre said after a complete review, he concluded Utley’s slide merited punishment.

There was no immediate confirmation on whether Utley would appeal, which could keep him eligible to play Games 3 and 4 this week in New York. If he contests the penalty, chances are MLB would try to hold a hearing Monday.

The best-of-five NL Division Series is tied at one apiece.

The 36-year-old Utley, a six-time All-Star, has a parttime role with the Dodgers after they acquired him Aug. 19 from Philadelphia. But before the suspension was announced, manager Don Mattingly said the infielder might start Game 3 on Monday night because of his solid numbers against Mets pitcher Matt Harvey and the lefty-righty matchup.

With the Dodgers trailing by a run in the seventh inning Saturday, Utley slammed into Tejada at second base to make sure the Mets could not complete a double play that would have kept them ahead. Utley went in high and hard, crashing into Tejada’s legs and flipping the shortstop head over heels.

The tying run scored, Tejada was wheeled off with a fractured fibula and the Dodgers rallied for three more runs in the inning, going on to a 5-2 victory that evened the bestof-five series at one apiece.

“I recognize that there has been much commentary and many questions regarding the unfortunate play in last night’s game in which Ruben Tejada was injured. As I said after the game, the determination of whether a baserunner has intentionally interfered with a player attempting to turn a double play is left to the judgment of the umpire on the field, and that judgment call is not subject to review. I should add that determining where to draw the line between illegal slide and a legitimate hard play is an extremely difficult call for our umpires,” Torre said.