Four Royals, two White Sox receive suspensions in wake of Thursday’s bench-clearing scuffle

In the wake of their scuffle with the White Sox, four Royals received suspensions on Saturday morning. The Royals will appeal all four, but the discipline from Major League Baseball fell harshest on pitcher Yordano Ventura, who received a seven-game ban after shouting at Chicago outfielder Adam Eaton at the brawl’s outset during the seventh inning Thursday.

Edinson Volquez received a five-game suspension after taking a wild, inaccurate swing at White Sox pitcher Jeff Samardzija. Samardzija and his teammate, Chris Sale, both got five-game suspensions. MLB meted out two-game suspensions to both Royals outfielder Lorenzo Cain and reliever Kelvin Herrera.

Herrera has already appealed his five-game suspension for throwing behind Oakland third baseman Brett Lawrie last weekend. All four players remain available until the appeals process is completed. They also were all fined an undisclosed amount.

“We understand that Major League Baseball has to do what they think is fair in situations like this,” manager Ned Yost said in a release. “Now, we just have to wait for the appeals process to play out.”

The players were unavailable for comment. There was no access on Saturday afternoon as rain postponed both the completion of Friday’s suspended game and the regularly scheduled contest. Friday’s game, tied 2-2 entering the ninth, is scheduled be resumed at 1:10 p.m. Sunday, followed by Sunday’s regularly scheduled game.

On Thursday evening, after the game, Ventura sounded apologetic. He accepted responsibility for his actions. Both Cain and Volquez indicated they did not feel they deserved discipline. Volquez said he was “out of control” when he swung at Samardzija, but also said he was just defending his teammates. Cain said he traded blows with Samardzija only after Samardzija attacked him first.

Both Samardzija and Sale will appeal their bans, too, Chicago general manager Rick Hahn told reporters on Saturday. Catcher Tyler Flowers also received a fine. After his ejection, Sale visited the Royals clubhouse in search of a fight with Ventura, according to people familiar with the situation.

For the Royals, this round of penalties was far harsher than the ones handed down after their weekend-long altercations. Only Herrera received a suspension. Ventura was fined for drilling Lawrie with a 99-mph fastball. No Oakland players were suspended or fined.

This story was originally published April 25, 2015 at 11:29 AM with the headline "Four Royals, two White Sox receive suspensions in wake of Thursday’s bench-clearing scuffle."