Astros‘ Bryan Abreu suspended 2 games for plunking Adolis Garcia after home run.
Major League Baseball announced Saturday Bryan Abreu has been suspended two games for hitting Adolis Garcia with a pitch in Game 5 of the ALCS in an at-bat after his three-run home run.
Garcia hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning Friday night that gave his Texas Rangers a 4-2 lead. The next pitch Garcia saw in the eighth drilled him in his right elbow pad.
Garcia’s immediately got in catcher Martin Maldonado’s face, and the two had to be separated.
Abreu and Garcia were both ejected, as was Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker.
The suspension will begin Game 6 Sunday, but Abreu is expected to appeal, and that would likely push the suspension to the 2024 regular season.
Baker was ejected after arguing with umpires shortly after Abreu was tossed, saying he hadn’t been “that mad in a long time.
Garcia admired his homer, taking over 30 seconds to round the bases and spiking his bat to the ground.
“I think we’re in the postseason. It’s the moment,” Garcia said after the game. “You hit a ball like that, you’re going to celebrate. It’s where we’re at right now. If they’re trying to react to that, I don’t think that’s the correct way.
The Astros got the last laugh after Jose Altuve’s three-run home run in the ninth inning gave Houston its third straight win, all on the road, to take a 3-2 lead in the best.
Houston is one win away from making its third consecutive World Series and its fifth in the last seven years.
