San Francisco Giants third baseman Matt Chapman has been suspended one game for pushing Colorado Rockies starter Kyle Freeland during a benches-clearing incident Tuesday night at Coors Field, MLB announced Wednesday.
Chapman’s suspension was supposed to begin Wednesday, but he’s appealed the decision.
Freeland, Giants shortstop Willy Adames and slugger Rafael Devers were fined undisclosed amounts.
Tuesday’s incident began when Devers took his time admiring his first-inning two-run homer off Freeland, who took offense. The two began yelling at each other as Devers walked up the first-base line.
As more players began to converge near the mound, Chapman entered the fray and pushed Freeland. Adames also made contact with the Rockies hurler as both benches cleared.
Chapman, Freeland and Adames were all ejected. Devers didn’t finish rounding the bases until eight minutes after his 397-foot home run, according to MLB.com.
“I just found it extremely disrespectful to show me up like that in the first inning after hitting a home run,” Freeland told reporters postgame.
“Standing there watching it, taking your sweet time getting down to first base. I’ve been in this league for quite some time, and I know he has as well. I just find that extremely disrespectful and felt that I needed to let him know about that.”
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Devers told reporters in Spanish. “I didn’t do anything different from when I hit a home run. I don’t know why it bothered him.”
The two teams will meet again Wednesday night at 8:40 p.m. ET to finish off their three-game series. San Francisco is looking to sweep Colorado after taking the first two contests.
