Marlins pitcher Jose Urena has been suspended six games after hitting Braves outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. with the first pitch of Wednesday night's game _ an event that set off a benches clearing skirmish between the two teams.
Major League Baseball announced Urena's suspension will begin on Friday barring an appeal. The Marlins pitcher was also handed an undisclosed fine. Braves first base coach Eric Young received a one-game suspension for his role during the altercation.
Since Urena is a starting pitcher, he'll miss just one start.
In the finale of its four-game series at Atlanta, tempers flared on the first pitch in the bottom of the first inning. Acuna _ the Braves 20-year-old star rookie who led off the previous three games with home runs _ stepped to the plate against Urena. The 26-year-old right-hander unleashed a 97-mph hour fastball, drilling Acuna on his left arm.
The rookie went down in pain as both benches cleared and moved toward the mound. While no fighting took place, heated jawing took place between the two sides. Urena was soon ejected, forcing the Marlins to immediately go to the bullpen for the entirety of the game. Miami dropped the contest, 5-2, wrapping up a four-game sweep by Atlanta.
Acuna trotted out to left field to begin the 2nd inning, but immediately left due to the injury.
"If you watch Jose (Urena) pitch, pretty much every first pitch of every game is pretty much there," Marlins manager Don Mattingly told reporters after the game. "We talked to Jose after the game and basically he was saying he knew (Acuna) had been swinging the bat good and was trying to get one close. He wanted to run it off in there and that was the purpose of the pitch.
"I talked to him before that, (saying) 'This kid is swinging the bat good. We've got to figure out how to get him out' and I've always said _ I don't want to see this kid get hit. He's a great player and he's going to be for a long time. He's beat us up but this is not the way we want to handle this situation. Obviously, this is not something we represent or believe in as an organization. I would never want that kid getting hit and causing that kind of problem."
A four-year MLB veteran, Urena is 3-12 with 4.74 ERA and 1.28 WHIP this season. The 26-year-old, who's spent his entire career with Miami, is coming off a 14-win season on the mound. Urena's contract is under team control through 2021.
Earlier this season, Marlins starting pitcher Dan Straily was suspended five games for intentionally throwing at Giants catcher Buster Posey. Mattingly was also suspended as well.
