4:39pm: The suspension has been reduced to five games and Valdez will begin serving it tonight. Evan Woodbery of MLive Media Group was among those to pass along the update.
3:20pm: Major League Baseball announced that Tigers left-hander Framber Valdez has been issued a six-game suspension and an undisclosed fine for intentionally throwing at Red Sox shortstop Trevor Story last night. He’ll begin serving the suspension tonight unless he appeals. Manager A.J. Hinch has also received a one-game suspension and undisclosed fine. He’ll begin serving his suspension tonight.
Valdez was getting torched by the Sox last night. He allowed ten runs, seven earned, in three-plus innings pitched. The top of the fourth started with homers by Willson Contreras and Wilyer Abreu. Then Trevor Story came up and was promptly beaned, which led to the benches and bullpens clearing, as seen in this video from MLB.com. Valdez was then ejected.
The lefty denied that the beaning was intentional but it was hard to believe. His own manager didn’t seem to defend him too hard. “We play a really good brand of baseball here,” Hinch said. “That didn’t feel like it.” Many observers pointed out that Valdez hardly ever throws a four-seam fastball and that the pitch that hit Story was his first four-seamer thrown this year.
When players are suspended for on-field infractions, they can’t be replaced on the roster, so the Tigers will have to play short-handed when Valdez is serving his suspension. Unless it gets shortened on appeal, he will have to miss at least one turn through the rotation. That’s a notable blow since Detroit is already pretty banged up in the starting pitching department, with each of Tarik Skubal, Justin Verlander, Casey Mize, Jackson Jobe, Troy Melton and Reese Olson currently on the injured list.
Jack Flaherty is starting tonight and then the Tigers are off on Thursday. Keider Montero and Ty Madden are scheduled to go on Friday and Saturday. It was going to be Valdez on Sunday, so some other plan will be required for that game, unless Valdez appeals. Perhaps the Tigers will opt for a bullpen game or call someone up for a spot start. Sawyer Gipson-Long and Jake Miller are on optional assignment but both are injured in the minors. The Tigers do have an open 40-man spot after Zack Short was designated for assignment yesterday, so they could opt for a non-roster option like Bryan Sammons or Dylan File.
Photo courtesy of Lon Horwedel, Imagn Images
