© Stan Szeto | 2020 Aug 9
Rarely does the instigator of the fight get the stiffest punishment.
MLB made sure of that when it came to litigating Sunday’s wild brawl between the A’s and Astros. Houston hitting coach Alex Cintron, whose comments directed at Ramon Laureano led to the outfielder charging the dugout, received a 20-game ban from the league, believed to be the longest ever levied against a coach for an on the field incident.
Houston #Astros hitting coach Alex Cintron, who instigated the #Athletics–#Astros melee Sunday, has received a 20-game suspension, believed to be the largest levied against an #MLB coach.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) August 11, 2020
Laureano received a six-game suspension for his role. Laureano was hit three times in as many games during the weekend series with the Astros. After making it to first base following plunking number three, Laureano seemed to cool down before Cintron began chirping from the Astros dugout, and made a gesture like he was going to come onto the field. According to Laureano, it was a vulgar comment about Laureano’s mother that set him off.
According to Nightengale, “MLB was outraged at Cintron’s actions, saying he should be held accountable for triggering the melee, which is completely unacceptable for a coach.”