Kurtenbach: Laureano a folk hero.

Ramon Laureano is going to get suspended for running at the Houston dugout, bringing about a benchesclearing brouhaha in Sunday’s A’s-Astros game. No one is going to argue about that. Laureano deserves punishment.

The only consolation is that he is now a folk hero across the sport.

The real question is how many games Laureano will be suspended by MLB commissioner Rob Manfred.

And, more importantly, what kind of punishment Manfred will hand down to Astros bench coach Alex Cintron, who egged on Laureano from the dugout and then cowardly jumped out of the way when the A’s outfielder fulfilled his request?

I’m not expecting much. Hoping for competence or logic from Manfred is a fool’s errand.

I’d love to be wrong, though. I’d love justice to be served against the Astros just once this year.

The problem is that the Astros are, in mob parlance, “made” men. Manfred has shown he will go above and beyond to protect them. They’re the villains in this story, but they are treated like princes.

The team stole signs via illegal outfield cameras, an algorithm built by the front office, and trash cans. Manfred granted the players immunity for their testimony, an incredibly daft decision that showed Manfred is a labor lawyer and not someone who has ever been involved in criminal law.

Then, two weeks ago, Manfred protected the Astros again, when Dodgers reliever Joe Kelly’s lack of command cleared the benches in Houston. Manfred handed Kelly an over-the-top eight-game sus

pension. Kelly’s appeal is still pending, but if the eight-game ban is upheld, it’s the equivalent of 21 games in this shortened, 60-game schedule.

So what’s Laureano going to get? The wheel of “justice” will be spun and we’ll find out on Monday. Again, don’t expect logic to be applied to the process.

But whatever Laureano receives, Cintron deserves double.

Laureano might have messed up by taking Cintron’s bait, but it was Cintron who instigated the fight. The Astros hitting coach — who, for the record, didn’t hit much in his major league career — was seen clearly telling Laureano to come and

fight him, going as far as to step out of the dugout and hike up his pants. He was telling Laureano that he was ready to rumble.

Laureano called his bluff.

By the time the A’s outfielder reached the dirt around the Astros dugout, Cintron had executed a step-back move that would make James Harden envious — he never even joined the pile.

Cintron shouldn’t be suspended for being a coward; that’s just something he’ll have to live with. But Manfred should hand down a severe punishment to the punk for being an instigator while holding a position of power on a baseball team.

It’s one thing for players to jaw and fight. Laureano had been hit by a pitch three times in the A’s sweep over the Astros. He had a right to be mad at Houston, and that’s beyond the sign-stealing stuff.

But the coaches are supposed to be the “adults in the room” and this “adult” was challenging a kid to a fight.

If the Astros had any sense of shame or decency, Cintron wouldn’t be employed by the team come Monday. But they don’t, so it’s Manfred’s job to rectify the problem.

It’s a shame that he’s unlikely to do anything of consequence.

The Astros will get away with it again.

The good news for the A’s is that, while they’re likely to lose their best hitter this season to what will surely be an arbitrarily long suspension, they have plenty of cushion atop the AL West standings.

Oakland’s three-game sweep of those cheats from Houston was their ninth straight victory overall. They’re now up 51/2 games on the Asterisks in the standings.