White Sox-Guardians brawl: Suspensions, fines handed out after explosive on-field fight
CHICAGO - A combined eight members of the Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Guardians have received discipline for their roles when benches cleared and fists were thrown during Saturday night's game.
The wild fight broke out in the bottom of the sixth inning after third baseman Jose Ramirez stole second base and shortstop Tim Anderson tried to tag him out.
Anderson and Ramirez threw their mitts off and began swinging, with Ramirez connecting with a blow to Anderson's face, knocking the shortstop to the ground.
The disciplines are as follows:
- Anderson has received a six-game suspension and an undisclosed fine for fighting
- Ramírez has received a three-game suspension and an undisclosed fine for fighting
- Guardians pitcher Emmanuel Clase has received a one-game suspension and an undisclosed fine
- White Sox manager Pedro Grifol and Guardians manager Terry Francona have each received a one-game suspension and an undisclosed fine
- Guardians third base coach Mike Sarbaugh has received a one-game suspension and an undisclosed fine
- White Sox pitcher Michael Kopech and Guardians outfielder Gabriel Arias have each received an undisclosed fine
The suspensions of Anderson and Ramirez were set to begin Monday night, but both players have elected to appeal. Clase has elected not to appeal and will serve his one-game suspension tonight.
Grifol and Francona must serve their suspensions tonight, while Sarbaugh will serve his on Tuesday.
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MLB's Senior Vice President for On-Field Operations, Michael Hill, made the disciplines' announcement Monday afternoon.
Right before the fight broke out Saturday night, Anderson kept his tag on Ramírez's back as he stood over and straddled him. Ramírez seemed irritated and, after getting up, he pointed his finger in Anderson's face and yelled. The two then squared off like boxers in a ring.
Anderson took off his glove and threw the first punch and then another that missed before Ramírez countered with his haymaker to the Chicago star's jaw, dazing him and knocking him on his rear end on the infield dirt.
"I felt I was able to land one," Ramírez said through a translator.
Jose Ramirez of the Cleveland Guardians and Tim Anderson of the Chicago White Sox start to fight as umpire Malachi Moore gets between them during the sixth inning at Progressive Field on August 05, 2023 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Ron Schwane/Getty Images / Getty Images)
"He's been disrespecting the game for a while," Ramírez added. "When he does something like that on the bases, he can get somebody out of the game. So I was telling him to stop doing that. After he tapped me really hard, more than needed, he said he wanted to fight and I had to defend myself."
Francona wasn't exactly sure what prompted the Anderson-Ramírez bout, but said that before the brawl, Anderson had been told by one of the umpires to stop jawing at Guardians rookie Gabriel Arias.
White Sox's Tim Anderson breaks silence after Jose Ramirez fight with cryptic tweets
Chicago White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson has broken his silence since his Saturday night brawl with Cleveland Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez resulted in him hitting the deck after getting punched in the jaw.
On Friday night, Anderson pushed Guardians rookie Brayan Rocchio off the bag at second following a slide, leading to a call that was controversially reversed by the umpires.
After he was knocked down, Anderson had to be forcibly taken into the dugout by members of the coaching staff before he returned to the field several minutes later. Chicago teammate Andrew Vaughn then wrapped his arms around Anderson and physically carried him down the dugout steps.
Associated Press contributed to this report.