David Ortiz and Kevin Gregg awarded a three-game ban each – MLB News
The infamous fight between Boston Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz and Baltimore Orioles reliever Kevin Gregg on Friday, July 8 resulted in both players being suspended by baseball authorities for four games.
Ortiz and Gregg appealed against their four-game bans and Major League Baseball was kind enough to slash one game from the initial four-game ban for each player and reduce it to three-games. Both players will miss the three-game series between the Red Sox
and the Orioles which is scheduled for July 18 to July 20.
Ortiz will, however, remain with the Red Sox team and continue with his pregame schedule including batting practice. Once the game begins, Ortiz will not be allowed to wear the team jersey and will not be entitled to sit with his team-mates in the bull-pen.
Gregg, on the other hand, will completely miss the series.
The incident took place when Ortiz came in at-bat and Gregg was firing from the mound. The All-Star home-run derby captain has been in prime hitting form this season and expected to lash out a few hits then as well. Gregg was clever to read Ortiz and threw
three successive inside pitches to the renowned hitting-machine. Ortiz finally lost his temper when Gregg shouted at Ortiz after the third pitch when Ortiz flied out and it was then that Ortiz charged towards the mound in an attempt to hit Gregg.
There had been rumours that the suspension had been delayed to avoid further aggression between both sides when they meet during July 18 – 20 but Ortiz was quick to shun this talk and said that it had more to do with the All-Star break than anything else.
He said it is just a game, incidents happen and then things go on.
Ortiz said, "I know what I did wasn't the right thing to do. I knew I was going to be punished. Just want to get over it and get on with the season."
He further added that both players should accept responsibility of misconduct and now accept the punishment head on.
Kevin Gregg, conversely, was not satisfied with his ban and complained that an equal ban on both players does not justify him. Gregg said that he was doing what he had to do at the mound and it was Ortiz who got angered by his inability to hit the pitches.
Gregg said, “I still don't think it's fair that we have the same fine, same suspension, but we're going to move past that point and get on with the season."
In the first game of the series on Monday, July 18, Boston defeated Baltimore 15-10 to take their win-loss record to 58-36 for the season. Not having Ortiz did not really make a difference to the Red Sox but Gregg’s absence is surely felt in the Baltimore’s
bull-pen who are lagging behind in the tough American League East Division.
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