White Sox Star Tim Anderson's Suspension for Touching MLB Umpire Reduced to 2 Games

The Chicago White Sox will reportedly be without their All-Star shortstop for their next two games.

Jesse Rogers of ESPN reported Anderson reached a settlement with Major League Baseball and will be suspended two games for an incident that happened July 29. The original punishment was three games.

Umpire Nick Mahrley ejected Anderson from a July 29 game against the Oakland Athletics, prompting the shortstop to approach him and continue arguing about a strike call. Anderson's helmet made contact with Mahrley's cap, leading to the suspension.

That means Anderson will miss Sunday's game against the Texas Rangers and then the first game of Tuesday's doubleheader against the Kansas City Royals with Chicago having the day off Monday.

The 29-year-old has once again been a key piece in the White Sox's lineup and is slashing .301/.339/.395 with six home runs, 25 RBI and 13 stolen bases in 79 games. He was named an All-Star for the second consecutive year and also has the 2019 batting title on his resume.

While Anderson has been largely excellent, he and his team have dealt with some inconsistency of late.

He is 0 for his last 15, and Chicago is just 5-5 in its last 10 games. It dropped two of the first three in a four-game set against the Rangers and will look to salvage a split without his bat in the order Sunday.

The White Sox are in third place in the American League Central at 54-53, although they are just three games behind the first-place Minnesota Twins.

They are also three games behind the Seattle Mariners for the final American League wild-card spot, so having Anderson find his form again once he returns from his brief suspension figures to be important if they are going to make a playoff push down the stretch.