Punches were thrown Saturday night at Progressive Field. Cleveland Guardians All-Star third baseman José Ramírez and Chicago White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson traded punches after the two exchanged words following a tag play at second base. Ramírez, who slid in between Anderson's legs, appeared to be upset with Anderson and pointed to his head, then the two squared off.
As you'd expect, both benches and bullpens emptied once Anderson and Ramírez began throwing punches. Here's the brawl:
Like I said, actual punches were thrown. Most baseball brawls feature a lot of standing around and maybe some shoving, but rarely punches. Anderson appeared to get the worst of this one based on the fact he wound up on the ground.
Anderson and Ramírez were both ejected, as were Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase, Cleveland third base coach Mike Sarbaugh, and managers Terry Francona and Pedro Grifol. Suspensions will surely follow. For reference, Rougned Odor was suspended eight games (reduced to seven on appeal) for punching José Bautista in 2016. Anderson and Ramírez can expect similar suspensions.
Losing Ramírez for any length of time would be a major blow to a Guardians team that doesn't score much and is already without Josh Naylor (oblique strain). In fact, Cleveland was being no-hit by Michael Kopech into the sixth inning Saturday. Andrés Giménez broke the no-hit bid up with a single, then scored on Ramírez's double. Ramírez's slide on the double preceded the brawl.
Cleveland entered Saturday's game with a 54-56 record. They are 2.5 games behind the Minnesota Twins in the AL Central. The White Sox are well out of the race at 43-68.
