Stemming from Sunday’s incident in Oakland, Major League Baseball announced suspensions for Athletics outfielder and Astros hitting coach Alex Cintron. Laureano will miss 6 games, and has the right to appeal his ban. Cintron will not be able to appeal his 20 game ban, and must begin serving it immediately.

Laureano exchanged pleasantries with Houston hurler Humberto Castellanos before catcher Martin Maldonado intervened. As Laureano walked down the first base line, Cintron stepped out of the Astros dugout, yelling at Laureano. Taunting Laureano, Cintron motioned for the Athletics fielder to engage him, which indeed occurred. This led to the benches clearing, and multiple ejections after things cooled down.

Laureano did not hold back after the game, claiming that Cintron yelled profanities about Laureano’s mother. Oakland manager Bob Melvin also stuck up for his guy, telling the press, “Ramon’s not going over there for no reason.”

Melvin, still critical of Cintron, said, “I think the league will know who it is, and that person should get suspended… without fans in the stands and mics everywhere, my guess is they know who he is.”

Laureano’s teammate Matt Olson was supportive, stating, “we heard things that were said that weren’t right to him, and maybe someone told him to come over to the dugout, so I think he was definitely provoked a little bit.”

This is the longest suspension of a coach for brawling. Twenty games is a large chunk of a normal season. In 2020, it’s a third of the year. In a season that requires social distancing, twenty games AT LEAST for instigating is no surprise.