Pittsburgh Pirates and Cincinnati Reds Brawl Leads to 8 Suspensions, Multiple Fines

The MLB announced the suspension of six players, both managers, and several fines on Thursday  afternoon as a result of the benches-clearing brawl that took place between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Cincinnati Reds last Tuesday night.

In what has been a heated rivalry all year, the Pittsburgh Pirates and Cincinnati Reds second benches clearing brawl this year has led to eight suspensions totaling 40 games, as well as fines for each of those suspended individuals and a few additional players.

The details:

Keone Kela – 10 games for intentionally throwing a pitch near the head of Derek Dietrich and his role in instigating the benches clearing incident.

Amir Garrett – 8 games for inciting the incident and throwing a punch.

Jose Osuna – 5 games for his aggressive and inappropriate actions during the incident.

Jared Hughes – 3 games for intentionally throwing a pitch at Starling Marte.

Kyle Crick – 3 games for his inappropriate actions during the incident.

Yasiel Puig – 3 games for his aggressive actions during the incident.

David Bell – 6 games for returning to the field following his previous ejection, escalating the incident with his aggressive actions, his club’s intentional pitch at Marte, and his numerous ejections this season.

Clint Hurdle – 2 games for his club’s conduct during the incident and his club’s multiple intentional pitches thrown at Dietrich this season.

Trevor Williams, Joey Votto, Phillip Ervin and Francisco Cervelli were fined for their roles in the brawl as well.

It’s interesting to see how the MLB decided to divvy up the suspensions. Kela did admit he was trying to throw up and in to Dietrich to send a message, so it’s not all that surprising that the MLB gave him a longer suspension. Kela admitting that coupled with the fact that the MLB doesn’t want to give off the idea that they’re OK with pitchers throwing near the head of batters, they had to slap Kela with this suspension.

However, the fact that Garrett didn’t receive an equal, if not longer suspension than Kela is also questionable. Given that Garrett sprinted off the mound to the Pirates dugout with an obvious intent to hurt somebody and clear the benches, you can certainly argue that he deserved the longest suspension.

Another gripe that some may have is Reds manager David Bell’s suspension. Six games is certainly a solid punishment in general, but given that Osuna got five games, it’s a little peculiar. Bell stormed out of the dugout AFTER he was already ejected, and went right at Clint Hurdle and pushed him. He then found himself wrestling Pirates hitting coach Rick Eckstein on the ground.

No one is innocent in this situation. But one could argue that Bell has only made matters worse by antagonizing Hurdle and the Pirates in each of the postgame interviews he’s done following these incidents, as well as making no effort to control his team. The fact that Garrett charged the mound and Puig was just looking for someone to fight shows that Bell hasn’t had his guys try to avoid any altercations, or he has little control over his players.

Throwing fastballs up and in to hitters is dangerous and it’s not right, and Hurdle should be more concerned about his job than getting even with the Reds. But both teams are guilty of it. Pretty much all thirty teams have been guilty of it at one point or another. But not many franchises, if any, have had a player charge an opposing team’s dugout looking for a fight and a manager storming back on the field after getting ejected to shove an opposing manager who was trying to pull guys away from each other. Just saying.