CLEVELAND, OH - The Cleveland Guardians (54-57) fell to the Chicago White Sox (44-68), 7-4, on Saturday night in a game filled with fireworks from baseball bats, fisticuffs and literal postgame fireworks.
Guardians starting pitcher Noah Syndergaard (1-5, 6.75) picked up the loss, allowing five earned runs on nine hits, including four home runs, in six innings. It is the first loss for Syndergaard as a Guardian.
White Sox starting pitcher Michael Kopech (5-10, 4.43) got the win in 5.1 innings, allowing two runs on three hits and striking out three Guardians. He held the Guardians hitless through five innings, with their first hit being a double courtesy of second baseman Andres Gimenez.
Smackdown at Second Base
A brawl between the teams broke out in the bottom of the sixth inning of Saturday night’s contest following a double by Jose Ramirez. The scuffle began with Guardians star third baseman Jose Ramirez and White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson.
Guardians manager Terry Francona recalled the events but acknowledged that he did not know all of the details at the time of his postgame press conference.
“Before it started, I know that [Tim] Anderson was yelling at [Guardians infielder Gabriel] Arias,” Francona recalled. “I think the umpire went and told [Anderson] to knock it off. Then, when [Jose Ramirez] slid into second, I think [Ramirez] felt like [Anderson] kind of stood over and things got away from everyone.”
Anderson took off his glove and the two squared off in an old-fashioned melee. Both threw punches before being separated. Anderson had continued to yell at the Guardians players, which Francona did not appreciate.
“I didn’t appreciate the fact that I thought [Tim] Anderson, once he had eleven or twelve guys between [Anderson and Ramirez], that’s when he started [talking],” Francona said following the game. “Yeah, I said something to [Anderson], that’s probably what [White Sox manager Pedro Grifol] was yelling about.”
“It’s hard to let somebody speak to you like that and not say anything,” Francona continued. “That’s emotions.”
Guardians third base coach Mike Sarbaugh then charged toward Grifol with both teams mobbing in front of the White Sox dugout. While being restrained, Anderson attempted to re-enter the playing field but was ultimately restrained to the dugout.
Following the game, Ramirez was clear with his message: Anderson has been disrespectful of the game for some time.
“I think has been disrespectful to the game for a while,” Ramirez told reporters following the game. “It's not from yesterday or from before. I've even had the chance to tell him during the game, ‘Don't do this stuff, that's disrespectful, don't start tagging people like that’ because, in reality, we're here trying to find ways to provide for our families."
"When he does the [tags] like he does on the bases, you can get somebody out of the game," Ramirez continued. "So for me, I was telling him to stop doing that, and then, as soon as it happened, he tagged me again really hard, more than needed. … He just gave reactions like [Anderson] say, ‘I want to fight’ and he wanted to fight, so you just have to defend yourself.”
In all, three players (Anderson, Ramirez, and Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase) and three coaches (Francona, Sarbaugh, and Grifol) were ejected from the game. This was Francona’s third ejection of the season, all of which have come against the White Sox. It was the first career ejections for Clase and Ramirez, as well as Sarbaugh.
When asked about the punch, Ramirez said simply, “I felt I was able to land one.”
What’s Next
The Guardians will look to win the series against the White Sox on Sunday at 12:05 PM as right handed pitcher Xzavion Curry (3-1, 2.90) will get the start against right hander Jesse Scholtens (1-4, 3.07) at Progressive Field.