Major League Baseball suspended Chris Devenski for three games on Tuesday and fined him an undisclosed amount after saying he intentionally threw at Reds infielder Sal Stewart in Saturday’s game. Pirates manager Don Kelly also was suspended for one game and fined an undisclosed amount after an angry visit that followed Devenski’s ejection.
The suspension was set to begin Tuesday night unless Devenski appealed, and he would remain eligible to pitch while that process played out. Kelly was expected to serve his suspension Tuesday night. The incident came in a game the Pirates led 15-6, when Stewart called time as Devenski was coming set and the right-hander threw a 92 mph waist-high sinker that tailed inside and nearly hit him. The umpiring crew then met and ejected Devenski.
Devenski had just joined the Pirates’ major league roster last Friday after the club selected him from Triple-A Indianapolis. He had allowed one run with a 15-to-2 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 10 2/3 innings for Indianapolis, then pitched 2 2/3 innings for Pittsburgh and gave up two runs on five hits with no walks and three strikeouts. The Pirates said after Sunday’s outing by Braxton Ashcraft, who worked 7 2/3 innings, that their bullpen was very fresh after an off day Monday.
After the game, Devenski said he was going hard in to start the at-bat and knew Stewart liked to dive over the plate. He said he was trying to execute his pitch, believed Stewart took it the wrong way, and added that he was not going to back down from anything. He also said he had been around the game a long time and that if he were going to do something like that, it would not be in that situation, because he was just trying to get outs. The suspension now leaves the Pirates at risk of playing a man down for the next three games if Devenski does not appeal.