NEW YORK – Tampa Bay pitcher Edwin Uceta was suspended for three games and fined Wednesday for intentionally throwing at Nick Castellanos, an action that prompted the Philadelphia Phillies outfielder to say “that’s like my 2-year-old throwing a fit.”
Rays manager Kevin Cash was suspended for one game and also fined an undisclosed amount by Michael Hill, Major League Baseball’s senior vice president for on-field operations.
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Cash was to serve the suspension during Wednesday night's game at Philadelphia. If Uceta appeals to MLB special assistant John McHale Jr., the penalty would be delayed until the appeals process is concluded.
Uceta came in on relief with the score 4-4 in the eighth inning and runners at second and third with one out Tuesday night. Cal Stevenson hit a two-run double, Buddy Kennedy added an RBI single, Trea Turner hit a two-run homer and Bryce Harper hit his third double of the game.
Castellanos was hit near his left hip by the next pitch, a 96.2 mph sinker, pointed at the pitcher and started shouting as benches emptied. Uceta was ejected by umpire crew chief James Hoye, who gave a warning to both dugouts.
“You’re frustrated and you’re going to throw at somebody,” Castellanos said after the Phillies' 9-4 win. “That’s like my 2-year-old throwing a fit because I take way his dessert before he’s finished.”
Castellanos has been hit by pitches nine times this season and 49 times in his big league career.
“I got into the box, I wasn't even swinging because I felt there was a chance that that could happen and it happened. I think that he was just (angry) that his numbers got messed up," Castellanos said. “I can’t explain it, just I know that he had relatively pretty good numbers going into that and just watching him, I could see him getting frustrated and I was digging in and I’m like, I’m going to take this pitch right here to see if he’s around the plate and it wasn’t anywhere near the plate.”
Uceta, a 26-year-old right-hander, had not hit a batter previously this season.
“I was just trying to locate my pitch,” he was quoted as saying by the Tampa Bay Times. “I wasn’t trying to do it on purpose.”
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