Major League Baseball suspended Kansas City Royals pitcher Kelvin Herrera for five games and fined him an undisclosed amount for throwing a 100mph fastball behind the back of Oakland Athletics infielder Brett Lawrie.
Herrera’s team-mate, Yordano Ventura, was fined an undisclosed amount for plunking Lawrie in the Saturday meeting between the two teams.
Both incidents are assumed to have stemmed from a hard slide by Lawrie into second base that injured Royals shortstop Alcides Escobar during Friday’s game.
Lawrie said he apologised to Escobar for the slide, but that clearly was not enough for the Royals pitching staff.
As Herrera walked off the field Sunday following his ejection, he pointed at his head.
"That's some s***, and he needs to pay for that," Lawrie said after the game. "That ain't OK."
The two teams meet again June 26-28 for a three-game swing in Oakland.