Joe Kelly handed big suspension after starting benches-clearing incident vs. Astros

Joe Kelly has been suspended eight games for his behavior against the Astros in Houston.

You figured it was only going to be a matter of time before Major League Baseball came down on Joe Kelly for his behavior against the Houston Astros on Tuesday night. The Los Angeles Dodgers reliever went above and beyond to proverbially declare war against Houston for their sign-stealing scandal, which rocked the league.

Well, Kelly will now have to pay for throwing at Astros batters and sending multiple expletives their way at Minute Maid Park, as it’s been announced the hurler has received an eight-game suspension.

Kelly’s long list of offenses began on Tuesday when he threw at Alex Bregman. He nearly belted the Astros slugger on a 3-0 count, which angered the Houston players in the dugout. Soon after, he almost rocked Carlos Correa with a pitch that went high and inside. Had Correa not ducked, he very well may still be feeling it right now.

To make matters worse for Bregman, Dusty Baker revealed he told Correa to “sit down (expletive)” after he struck him out during that same at-bat. After Kelly insulted him like that, the two benches cleared and we almost had our first big brawl of the MLB season.

Kelly was also caught on television making faces at Correa, which surely didn’t help his case when the league was deciding how many games to suspend him. Dave Roberts has also been suspended for one game and won’t be in the dugout for Wednesday’s series finale with Houston.

In a shortened 60-game season, getting hit with an eight-game suspension is surely no slap on the wrist for Kelly, that’s for sure.