MLB suspends Joe Kelly for eight games
You knew there would be fireworks when Houston met the LA Dodgers on Tuesday night from Chavez Ravine. The Astros didn't lose anybody from their team after the sign-stealing scandal that showed that Houston stole signs illegally using replay monitors and banged trash cans to signal their hitters at the plate during the 2017 regular season and postseason and 2017 season. In 2017, Houston defeated the LA Dodgers in seven games.
Houston did fire manager A.J. Hinch and GM Jeff Luhnow for their roles in the scandal, but the players were not penalized.
On Tuesday night, there was a rematch and some hard feelings. But things were pretty quiet until the sixth inning when reliever Joe Kelly came into the game. He started by throwing behind a few Astros hitters, including Carlos Correa and Alex Bregman. That sparked a benches-clearing confrontation.
Kelly got an eight-game suspension for his role in the confrontation and part of the reason was that he was also involved in a six-game suspension in April of 2018 for hitting Tyler Austin of the Yankees.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was given a one-game suspension, while Houston manager Dusty Baker was fined, according to MLB on Wednesday afternoon.
The Dodgers got the last laugh winning 5-2.