Nats' Lopez suspended three games
Published
Major League Baseball suspended Washington Nationals reliever Jorge Lopez for three games for intentionally throwing at Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen.
Nats manager Dave Martinez also received a one-game ban.
Lopez, 32 is appealing the suspension.
The incident occurred in the seventh inning of Wednesday night's game. With the Pirates up 2-0, Lopez hit Bucs outfielder Bryan Reynolds in the side with a fastball. McCutchen, the next batter, was then forced to duck out of the way of a fastball sailing towards his head. Benches cleared, but cooler heads prevailed. Lopez was eventually ejected for the pitch. The Pirates went on to win the game by a score of 6-1.
The Pirates felt that Reynolds being hit was retaliation for Nats infielder Paul DeJong being hit in the face by a pitch from Mitch Keller that sent him to the hospital. DeJong was then placed on the injured list with a broken nose.
After the game, Lopez insisted the pitches weren't intentional and he was just dealing with control problems.
“I’ve been trying to find my way with my delivery,” Lopez told MASN. “I tried to find my way through the whole season. And it’s really miserable that happened. I regret what just happened.”
A native of Caguas, Puerto Rico, Lopez is in his 10th big league season and first with the Nats. He previously spent time with the Chicago Cubs, New York Mets, Baltimore Orioles, Miami Marlins, Minnesota Twins, Kansas City Royals and Milwaukee Brewers.
An All-Star in 2022, Lopez has a 10.57 earned run average and 1.696 WHIP in 7.2 innings pitched over eight appearances.