Martin Maldonado suspended five games for part in Brewers-Pirates brawl

It’s a known rule in baseball – if you come off the bench or out of the bullpen to take part in a brawl, you’ll get the worst of the punishment as compared to the guys who were already on the field.

Welcome to that world, Martin Maldonado.

It the middle of a game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Milwaukee Brewers, a bench-clearing brawl erupted, and so did Martin Maldonado.

The Brewers’ back-up catcher, Maldonado rushed the field and landed a hellacious haymaker to the face of Pirates outfielder Travis Snider, and now he gets to ride the pine for five games, according to a report from CBSSports.com.

Snider ended up with a cut and a black eye (and no doubt a bruised ego) from the punch.

The brawl started when Gerrit Cole was a bit perturbed about how Carlos Gomez’s flipped his bat on a triple that Gomez thought to be a home run when it first left the bat, and the two started chirping at each other at third base. It’s likely that both Cole and Gomez will be suspended, but it wouldn’t be surprising if theirs was a more lenient punishment than that of Maldonado.

The Brewers are not allowed to replace Maldonado on the roster while he is suspended, so the lineup with have to be shuffled, and an emergency catcher will have to be at the ready in case starter Jonathan Lucroy is injured.