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Royals’ Herrera suspended five games for throwing at A’s

By Alexandra Huber

Apr 20, 2015; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals relief pitcher Kelvin Herrera (40) delivers a pitch against the Minnesota Twins in the eighth inning at Kauffman Stadium. Kansas City won the game 7-1. Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 20, 2015; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals relief pitcher Kelvin Herrera (40) delivers a pitch against the Minnesota Twins in the eighth inning at Kauffman Stadium. Kansas City won the game 7-1. Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports /
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MLB hands down a five-game suspension to Royals reliever Kelvin Herrera for throwing behind Brett Lawrie. 

Kansas City Royals reliever Kelvin Herrera has been suspended five games by Major League Baseball for throwing behind Oakland third baseman Brett Lawrie in their matchup against the A’s on Sunday. After the pitch, Herrera was immediately ejected.

From Major League Baseball:

"“Kansas City Royals pitchers Kelvin Herrera and Yordano Ventura have received discipline for their roles in on-field incidents during the Club’s weekend series against the Oakland Athletics at Kauffman Stadium, Joe Garagiola, Jr., Senior Vice President of Standards & On-Field Operations for Major League Baseball, made the announcement.Herrera has received a five-game suspension and an undisclosed fine for intentionally throwing a pitch in the head area of Brett Lawrie of the A’s in the top of the eighth inning of the Sunday, April 19th game, with warnings in place.Ventura has received an undisclosed fine for intentionally throwing a pitch at Lawrie in the top of the fourth inning of the Saturday, April 18th game.”"

Herrera has a right to appeal, if he choose. If he does not, his suspension will begin tonight.

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Herrera’s errant pitch was the culmination of a series that was chippy from start to finish.

The tension began during Friday night’s contest when Lawrie took a hard slide into second base, ramming into the left leg of shortstop Alcides Escobar. Though Lawrie was trying to break up a double play, the slide was too late to affect the throw, and the Royals considered it dirty.

The very next day, Ventura was ejected after he hit Lawrie with a pitch. The benches emptied but no fight actually broke out.

Finally, in Sunday’s game, Herrera unleashed a 100-mph fastball that sailed behind Lawrie’s back, after both sides had been warned by the umpires. Herrera was immediately ejected and, as he walked off the field, he pointed at his head and mouthed something to Lawrie.

Lawrie, unsurprisingly, took it is a threat – though no one knows what Herrera actually said – and sounded off to a scrum of reporters post-game.

Regardless, it will be interesting to see what goes down on June 26th in Oakland, the next time these two teams face off.

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