Torre hopes to announce brawl suspensions Tuesday
Joe Torre, Major League Baseball's chief baseball officer, told reporters Monday that he'll "hopefully" announce suspensions stemming from the Rangers-Blue Jays brawl on Tuesday.
Tempers boiled over in Texas on Sunday when Rougned Odor punched Jose Bautista in the jaw, prompting an ugly benches-clearing brawl between the two heated rivals from last year's playoffs.
Odor's punch followed a series of escalating events, including Matt Bush throwing at Bautista in what appeared to be retaliation for his bat flip in Game 5 of last year's AL Division Series. Two batters later, Bautista executed a hard takeout slide on Odor at second base, triggering the controversial right hook that's expected to land the Rangers' gritty infielder a lengthy suspension.
"I know I'm going to be suspended for a couple games, but I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing," Odor said Monday, adding that he punched Bautista in self-defense.
Speaking to reporters before the Arizona Diamondbacks-New York Yankees game, Torre said of Odor's punch: "It certainly wasn't pretty and I hate seeing that stuff."
Bautista was in the lineup for Monday's game against the Rays, but did not speak to reporters.
The incident led to six ejections, including Blue Jays reliever Jesse Chavez, who was tossed after hitting Prince Fielder with a pitch to begin the bottom half of the inning, prompting a second benches-clearing situation.
Related: Pillar: I went out there to get Odor
Several other players could face discipline for their roles in the melee, including Bush, Kevin Pillar, and Josh Donaldson. On Monday, John Gibbons questioned why Texas waited until the final game of the series to seek retaliation.
"If something irritates you that bad and something is going to happen, the only way to do is to take care of it right away," Gibbons said.
(Video courtesy: MLB.com)