DAVID GINSBURG
AP Sports Writer
BALTIMORE (AP) — Orioles third baseman Manny Machado will have a hearing Wednesday on his appeal of a five-game suspension handed down by Major League Baseball.
Machado received the suspension and an undisclosed fine on June 10 for intentionally throwing his bat onto the field in a game against the Oakland Athletics on June 8. He immediately appealed the ruling and has been playing since that time.
The bat toss came during a plate appearance in which Oakland reliever Fernando Abad threw successive high-and-tight pitches. After the bat went soaring toward third base, both benches emptied.
Machado and Abad were ejected. Abad was subsequently fined but not suspended.
The bat-throwing incident was an extension of a feud that began in the series opener between the teams. Machado yelled in the face of Oakland’s Josh Donaldson after the third baseman tagged him on the chest, knocking Machado off his feet.
The dugouts also emptied after that confrontation, but no one was ejected.
Machado believes the five-game suspension is too harsh, especially because he was not tossed from that June 6 game.
“I hope we’ll get it down below four; I know four for sure,” he said Tuesday. “They gave me that extra day without being thrown out of the game for Friday night’s brawl. Hopefully get it down to four, or two or one. Less is better for us.”
Machado will finally get to tell his side of the story Wednesday in Baltimore. Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette is scheduled to attend, but manager Buck Showalter will not be there.
“We obviously had a bunch of conversations about how we’re going to approach this,” Machado said. “I think we have a pretty good fight to go (in with). That’s a lot of games. Five games could maybe cost us the playoffs.”
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