White Sox All-Star Tim Anderson received a three-game suspension Saturday for making contact with home plate umpire Nick Mahrley during Friday’s game against the Athletics, according to MLB.com.
Anderson, 29, also received an undisclosed fine for the incident, which occurred in the seventh inning after the shortstop disputed Mahrley’s strike call on a pitch from reliever Domingo Acevedo. The suspension was set to begin prior to Saturday’s game against the A’s but it will now be held in abeyance after Anderson chose to appeal the ruling.
With the discipline currently on hold, Anderson was allowed to start at shortstop for Game 2 of Chicago’s series against Oakland where he also batted leadoff.
Friday’s heated exchange saw a peeved Anderson share a few words with Mahrley before getting ejected from the contest along with manager Tony La Russa, who came to his defense. While it appeared in the moment that Anderson may have been stepping away from Mahrley, MLB officials determined his batting helmet bumped the front of the Umpire’s hat upon further review.
Should the league uphold the suspension, it would mark the second time Anderson has been suspended this season. He was previously suspended one game in April for flipping off a fan during a road tilt against the Guardians, but the reprimand was reduced to a fine after an appeal. Anderson also missed the first two games of the season for his involvement in a bench-clearing brawl with the Tigers last September.
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