Major League Baseball announced Monday that Mets reliever Yoan López has been suspended for three games and fined an undisclosed amount for "intentionally throwing pitches at Kyle Schwarber of the Philadelphia Phillies during the top of the ninth inning of Sunday night’s game at Citi Field." As is typical practice, New York manager Buck Showalter also received a one-game suspension for López’s actions.
The Mets optioned López to Triple-A Syracuse Monday and his suspension will take effect whenever he’s recalled, although he has the right to appeal. Showalter does not have an appellate right, and he’ll miss Monday's game against the Braves as a result. Bench coach Glenn Sherlock will be the acting manager for Monday's game, tweets Jon Morosi of MLB.com.
López’s first pitch to Schwarber was a fastball that missed down and in. His second offering was in virtually the same spot. López then threw three straight pitches in the strike zone, and Schwarber eventually grounded out. López was not ejected, although home plate umpire Jerry Meals did issue warnings. Earlier in the game, López had hit Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm, while Mets star Francisco Lindor had been plunked by Philadelphia’s Cristopher Sánchez.
It’s the second time in as many weeks López has been at the center of controversy. He threw a pitch up-and-in to Cardinals star Nolan Arenado during a game on Wednesday. Arenado started yelling back, and the benches cleared. Arenado and St. Louis reliever Genésis Cabrera wound up serving one-game suspensions for their roles in that incident; López was fined but not suspended.
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