BALTIMORE _ Gary Sanchez will be a complete spectator during the Yankees' series at Camden Yards.
After learning that his MLB suspension was reduced from four games to three on Monday morning, the slugging catcher will miss the entire three-game series against the Orioles.
"In a way, I feel good about it," Sanchez said through an interpreter on Monday about having one game shaved off his suspension via appeal. "And on the other hand, I don't feel good about it because I'm not going to be able to help my team in these important games."
The Orioles have charged back into contention, 1{ games behind the Yankees and Twins for an AL wild-card berth.
"All games are important," said Sanchez, who played a pivotal role in the Yankees taking three out of four games against the first-place Red Sox this past weekend. "That series with the Red Sox was a highly important series and I'm glad I was able to participate."
Yankees manager Joe Girardi said he plans to start backup Austin Romine in all three Orioles games, though he's not averse using veteran minor league catcher Erik Kratz if needed.
Romine is also appealing a two-game suspension, stemming from the same brawl _ Aug. 24 at Detroit _ that earned Sanchez his ban.
"Obviously, this is an important time for us and we don't want to miss (Sanchez) at all," Girardi said, adding that "there's never a feeling that you lucked out" with the Sanchez situation. "It's better than four (games) and taking one game off could be really important to us. (But) we'll have to deal with it."
Sanchez's original suspension was for coming off the bench and landing punches to Miguel Cabrera and Nicholas Castellanos during a fight-filled game against the Tigers that saw eight ejections and three separate bench-clearing incidents.
Cabrera shoved Romine and threw a punch at him that missed, starting the initial brawl and earning a seven-game suspension that was reduced to six.
Asked if he had any regrets about his involvement in the brawl, Sanchez said: "That's something that happened. You can't go back in time. It's in the past."
During the suspension, Sanchez is permitted to do his normal pregame workouts at the ballpark, but "I can't be in the stadium once the game starts," he said.
The Yankees arrived at their Baltimore hotel shortly after 3 a.m. on Monday morning, following a night game at Yankee Stadium against Boston.
Sanchez said that his agent and a representative from the Players Association handled his appeal.
