Major League Baseball announced that Padres reliever Ron Marinaccio has been suspended for three games and fined an undisclosed amount “for intentionally hitting Gunnar Henderson of the Baltimore Orioles with a pitch during the bottom of the ninth inning of Saturday’s game at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.” Marinaccio has elected to appeal, so the suspension is held in abeyance until that plays out.
San Diego skipper Craig Stammen has been suspended one game and fined for Marinaccio’s actions. Managers do not have an appellate right, so Stammen will miss tonight’s series opener against the Cardinals. Bench coach Randy Knorr will manage the game in his place, reports Kevin Acee of The San Diego Union-Tribune.
Henderson came up with two outs in the ninth in a 9-3 ballgame. Marinaccio drilled him on the front hip with a 94 mph fastball and was ejected by crew chief Chris Conroy. Stammen argued the ejection and was himself tossed by Conroy. Adrian Morejon had to come into the game to record the final out.
That came four innings after Baltimore starter Trey Gibson hit Xander Bogaerts in the helmet with a 94 mph fastball of his own. Bogaerts later exited the game but was back in the lineup on Sunday. Henderson said postgame he believed Marinaccio’s hit by pitch to be intentional, noting that San Diego reliever Bradgley Rodriguez had backed him off the plate with two pitches in his previous plate appearance as well (link via Jake Rill of MLB.com). Marinaccio and Stammen both denied it was on purpose, saying their game plan was to attack Henderson on the inner half of the plate.
MLB clearly didn’t find that a satisfying explanation. These cases are typically resolved with a settlement before the appellate process, usually with the league agreeing to lower the suspension by a game in exchange for the player accepting the punishment. Assuming the suspension isn’t completely overturned on appeal, the Padres will need to play a man short for however long Marinaccio is unavailable. It makes sense for the Padres to delay that by a few days, as closer Mason Miller is already away from the team attending to a personal matter.
