Programming note: A’s-Angels coverage starts tonight at 6:30 p.m. with A’s Pregame Live on Comcast SportsNet California. CHANNEL LISTINGS
UPDATE (1:45 p.m. on Tuesday) -- Kelvin Herrera plans to appeal his five-game suspension, according to a Kansas City Star report.
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ANAHEIM – Royals reliever Kelvin Herrera was suspended five games and fined an undisclosed amount Tuesday for throwing at the A’s Brett Lawrie over the weekend.
Fellow Kansas City pitcher Yordano Ventura was fined an undisclosed amount but not suspended, which many thought he would be. Herrera's suspension could begin Tuesday night, though if he decides to appeal it, that would delay the games for which he will miss.
Ventura was fined for hitting Lawrie in the left elbow with a pitch Saturday, retaliation for Lawrie’s aggressive but legal slide into second base the night before that injured Royals shortstop Alcides Escobar.
Herrera fanned the flames of the controversy by throwing a 100 mile-per-hour fastball behind Lawrie on Sunday. Earlier in the game, A’s starter Scott Kazmir had hit Kansas City’s Lorenzo Cain with a pitch in the left foot, a pitch that Kazmir says was unintentional.
According to Major League Baseball, Herrera was suspended for "intentionally throwing a pitch in the head area of Brett Lawrie” after a warning by umpires had been issued.
