MLB suspends Ross, Tepera for incident at Brewers originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
Major League Baseball has issued Cubs reliever Ryan Tepera a three-game suspension and undisclosed fine “for intentionally throwing at” Brewers pitcher Brandon Woodruff in Tuesday’s game at Milwaukee, the league announced Thursday.
Cubs manager David Ross has also received a one-game suspension and fine for the same incident.
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Tepera has elected to appeal MLB’s decision, so any discipline will be held until after the process is complete. Ross is scheduled to serve his suspension Friday, when the Cubs play the Braves at Wrigley Field.
The inning before Woodruff dodged Tepera’s inside pitch Tuesday, the Brewers right-hander threw high and inside to Cubs catcher Willson Contreras. The pitch hit Contreras on the hands, marking the seventh time in Contreras’ past 14 games against the Brewers that he had been hit.
In the first series between the two teams, Brewers pitchers hit Contreras in back-to-back games, including once in the helmet. Contreras has said he doesn’t think the Brewers are intentionally throwing at him.
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“If you know that the guy can’t throw fastballs in,” he added earlier this month, “I don’t get why you keep going (there.)”
In the fifth inning of Tuesday’s game, Woodruff come to the plate with two outs. Tepera threw the first pitch of the at-bat behind Woodruff, about knee high.
“That caught me off guard,” Contreras said. “I didn’t know anything about it. I was just trying to calm him (Woodruff) down because I know how it feels to be thrown at. And we were good. We had a good conversation.”
On Wednesday, Ross said he didn’t think either team was intentionally throwing at batters.
