Astros’ Blanco gets 10-game ban for sticky glove
Houston Astros pitcher Ronel Blanco, who was ejected from Tuesday’s game after umpires found a foreign substance on his glove, has been suspended 10 games by MLB, it was announced Wednesday.
Blanco also was fined an undisclosed amount. Astros general manager Dana Brown said that the right-hander will not appeal, meaning it becomes effective Wednesday night as the Astros continue their series vs. Oakland.
Brown said Blanco and his agent initially thought about appealing the suspension, but they determined that they want to “move forward” and “get back out there.”
“Ronel Blanco is a good human being, a good dude and he’s worked his butt off to get into the starting rotation,” Brown said. “I think he sees it as, ‘Look, I don’t want to be out. I don’t want to extend this any longer. I want to get back to the business of pitching.'”
Third-base umpire Laz Diaz ejected Blanco after a check of his glove before he threw a pitch in the fourth inning. His glove was confiscated and was sent to the commissioner’s office.
“I felt something inside the glove,” first-base umpire Erich Bacchus said. “It was the stickiest stuff I’ve felt on a glove since we’ve been doing this for a few years now.”
Blanco denied using an illegal substance.
“Just probably rosin I put on my left arm,” he said in Spanish through an interpreter. “Maybe because of the sweat it got into the glove and that’s maybe what they found.”
Manager Joe Espada added that when he went to the mound he saw “white powder” inside Blanco’s glove.
“It looked to me when I grabbed the glove [that] there was some rosin,” Espada said. “You’re not allowed to use rosin on your non-pitching hand, and that’s what it looked like to me. It was a little bit sticky with the moisture and the sweat, but that’s what it looked like to me.”
Brown on Wednesday said MLB didn’t “get into” what the substance was.
“This was an umpire’s judgment,” Brown said.
Blanco held out his hands and patted them together in front of the umpires while they inspected his glove before he was ejected, and he did the motion again after he was tossed.
“What I told them is, ‘If you found something sticky in my glove you should also check my hands because it should also be on my hand,'” Blanco said. “‘Just check my hand,’ and he didn’t.”
Blanco, who threw a no-hitter in his season debut, allowed four hits and struck out one in three scoreless innings Tuesday. He has a 2.09 ERA this season. The Astros led 1-0 when he was replaced by Tayler Scott.
MLB began cracking down on foreign substances in June 2021.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The San Diego Padres placed right-hander Michael King on the 15-day injured list Thursday because of left knee inflammation.
King (4-2, 2.81 ERA) had just come off the IL on Saturday, allowing two runs in as many innings of a no-decision against the Boston Red Sox.
It was his first start since May 18 as he dealt with shoulder inflammation.
Now, he’s back on the IL with a knee issue in a move retroactive to Monday.
It’s a setback for a red-hot Padres team, who will carry a five-game winning streak into a weekend showdown against the Dodgers in Los Angeles. First-place San Diego is one game ahead of L.A. in the NL West.
King had been scheduled to start the series opener Friday.
In the corresponding roster move, the Padres recalled right-hander Randy Vásquez from Triple-A El Paso.
While the Milwaukee Brewers keep on rolling, another Wisconsin business is stocking up on beef and buns.
For the third time in its history, George Webb Restaurants will make good on its promise of giving away free hamburgers as part of a longstanding promotion to celebrate the Brewers winning 12 consecutive games.
The free burger giveaway will be held Wednesday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. CT at all 23 of the restaurant’s locations throughout Wisconsin. Vouchers for a burger at a later date will be available at all locations starting Friday.
“Hungry fans are welcome to stop by any location for a free, juicy burger and some camaraderie with fellow baseball fans,” the restaurant said on its website.
Starting way back in the 1940s, when Milwaukee was home to the minor league Brewers of the old American Association, George Webb promised free burgers if the local baseball team won 17 consecutive games.
The promotion dropped to 13 games by the time the Braves made Milwaukee a big league city in 1953, but that franchise couldn’t make it happen before departing for Atlanta in 1966.
George Webb changed the promotion to 12 games when the Brewers moved from Seattle in 1970. In 1987, the Brewers opened the season with 13 wins in a row, and more than 170,000 burgers were given away to mark the occasion.
The Brewers accomplished the feat a second time in 2018, closing the regular season with eight victories followed by four playoff wins. That streak led to 90,000 free burgers being given away in addition to 100,000 redeemable vouchers.
Prior to reaching the magic mark on Wednesday, the Brewers had come close on a few occasions, including an 11-game winning streak earlier this season.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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