San Francisco Giants relief pitcher Hunter Strickland was fined an undisclosed sum Tuesday and suspended six games for what the league called an intentional pitch at Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper in Monday's game. Harper received a four game suspension for "charging the mound, throwing his helmet and fighting."
The suspensions were to be served immediately but both players have appealed, meaning their punishment will be held in abeyance until the appeals process is complete.
The discipline comes a day after we saw one of the bigger brawls in recent memory and certainly the most intense this season. The history between the two players was that Harper had twice taken Strickland deep, but that was in the 2014 playoffs, from which Strickland's Giants would eventually emerge as World Series champions.
Still, Strickland seemingly hasn't let it go, and this was the result:
Strickland getting more than Harper might be a surprise to some, but in recent memory MLB has generally come down harder on the player they believed to be the instigator. Per the official MLB release, the league ruled that Strickland threw at Harper intentionally, thus his harsher punishment.
There are still two games left in the series in San Francisco -- next up is 10:15 p.m. ET Tuesday -- but the way both teams reacted after the game seemed to indicate that we won't see any carryover into more issues.
The Nationals enter Tuesday 31-19 with an 8 1/2 game lead in the NL East. Harper is hitting .331/.443/.663 with 11 doubles, 15 homers and 41 RBI, so him missing any time definitely hurts.
The Giants are a disappointing 22-31. Strickland has a 1.53 ERA and 1.36 WHIP with 18 strikeouts against nine walks in 17 2/3 innings.
