Ramon Laureano, Alex Cintron suspended for actions on Sunday

Oakland Athletics center fielder Ramon Laureano and Houston Astros coach Alex Cintron have received their punishment for their actions on Sunday.

Oakland Athletics center fielder Ramon Laureano has been given a six-game suspension and Houston Astros bench coach Alex Citron received a 20-game suspension for their roles in a bench-clearing brawl on Sunday, Aug. 9 in the A’s 7-2 win over the Astros at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum reports ESPN and San Francisco Chronicle A’s beat writer Susan Slusser.

USA Today Major League Baseball columnist Bob Nightengale via Twitter first reported a five-game suspension for Laureano, then revised it to six games.

Astros pitchers hit Laureano with pitches in three at-bats in the three-game series. On Sunday, Astros pitcher Brandon Bailey hit Laureano in the back with a 92 MPH fastball in the fifth inning. In the seventh, Humberto Castellanos hit Laureano in almost the identical spot with a breaking ball which led to the incident.

Laureano headed toward the mound displaying a two-finger grip as if to show Castellanos the way to throw a curveball. Once reaching first base, Laureano charged the Astros dugout toward Citron and the benches cleared, which is banned in baseball this season as it violates social distancing protocol.

Ramon Laureano told ESPN that Cintron “said in Spanish something you don’t say about my mother.”

In a post-game news conference, A’s manager Bob Melvin intimated that there was more to the incident than just Laureano reacting after being hit by a pitch for the second consecutive at-bat.

“Ramon doesn’t go over there unless something completely offensive comes out of that dugout,” Melvin said. “And I think the league knows who it is. And that person should get suspended and hopefully, that’s the case.

“What did we get hit – five ties in the series? – and we played it straight up,” Melvin continued. “Obviously, we don’t want to get into a brawl like that and we understand the protocol. Unfortunately, it happened.”

A’s starting pitcher Jesus Luzardo, who chalked up his first major league win, was more direct. “I just know that the coach egged-on Ramon,” Luzardo said at the press conference, ” and I thought that was wrong from a coaching standpoint.”

Earlier this season, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Joe Kelly, just placed on IR with shoulder inflammation, was given an eight-game suspension by MLB for allegedly throwing at Astros players Alex Bregman and Carlos Correa during a game on July 29.