Mike Fiers Suspended 5 Games for Throwing at Luis Valbuena's Head
Major League Baseball announced Thursday that Houston Astros pitcher Mike Fiers was suspended five games and fined an undisclosed amount for throwing at Los Angeles Angels infielder Luis Valbuena.
The incident happened during Wednesday's contest between the two teams.
According to the announcement, Fiers will not appeal his penalty meaning the suspension will begin Thursday.
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Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle noted Fiers was only pitching in the first place because Lance McCullers Jr. was out with arm fatigue. Fiers proceeded to allow five runs in the first inning, two of which came on a home run from Valbuena:
Valbuena admired the shot and flipped his bat, and Fiers' first pitch during the infielder's next at-bat was the one which drew the suspension.
"What he did to me, I took it as disrespect," Fiers said, per Brian McTaggart and Maria Guardado of MLB.com. "Obviously, I played with Valbuena and I have no hard feeling towards him, but when you do something like that, as disrespectful as he did, you've got send some kind of message. I'm not trying to hit him, but something has to be said."
Despite Wednesday's head-to-head loss, Fiers' Astros are still 13 games ahead of the Angels in the American League West. However, Los Angeles is in the thick of the wild-card race sitting two games behind the Minnesota Twins for the final spot.
