Major League Baseball dropped another hammer on the Houston Astros.
Alex Cintron, the Astros’ hit coach, was suspended for 20 games for his role in breaking the banks, MLB announced Tuesday. Cintron was seen mocking and challenging Oakland Athletics outfielder Ramón Laureano, which led to Laureano charing the Astros dugout along the first-base line. Laureano was suspended for six games and received an undisclosed fine for his role in the incident.
Laureano was hit twice by pitches in the series, including twice Sunday, and tried in his anger to demonstrate the correct way to throw a breaking ball to Astros pitcher Humberto Castellanos, who had hit him a second time. Laureano has chosen to appeal his suspension.
MLB warned teams against bank-clearing brawls at the start of the season because it is inconsistent with social distance and trying to navigate a season during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Laureano told ESPN that Cintron “said in Spanish something you did not say about my mother”, which caused him to rave about the dugout of Athletics. Cintron denied the allegations.
“I accept the MLB suspension and will learn from it,” Cintron said in a statement. ‘Although I never referred Ramon’s mother, my actions were inappropriate. I apologize for my part in Sunday’s unfortunate incident. As coaches we are kept to a higher standard and we need to be an example to the players. Hopefully other coaches will learn from my mistake that this will never happen again in the future. ”
Cintron has been an Astros assistant coach since 2017, meaning he survived the trash-can-banging sign-stealing scandal that shook baseball and led to the fires of manager AJ Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow, a $ 5 million fine for the organization and forgiveness of drafpicks.
Cintron had a nine-year career as an MLB player.
The 20-game Cintron suspension is arguably the longest in MLB history for a coach – and it’s even more eye-popping when it comes to one-third of the regular season. It is the equivalent of a 54-game suspension in a traditional season 162 game,
“I’m sorry I accused this man,” Laureano said Monday about Cintron. ‘I’m a man, I’m a freaking man. Whatever happens, happens. I’ll take it. I could not keep my cool and I should have. And I wasted my time with that man. ”
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