Nick Castellanos did not make many friends in St. Louis this weekend and now Major League Baseball is enacting some discipline on him.
The Cincinnati Reds slugger was suspended two games and fined an undisclosed amount by MLB on Monday for his “aggressive actions” in what led to a benches-clearing brawl in Saturday’s game.
Castellanos is appealing the suspension.
Five others were also fined by MLB, including Cardinals’ Yadier Molina, Nolan Arenado and Jordan Hicks as well as Reds’ Eugenio Suarez and Jesse Winker.
Castellanos was hit by a pitch in the fourth inning of Saturday’s game, which may have been retribution for his bat-flip and hop out of the box when he hit a home run on Opening Day on Thursday.
Later in the inning, Castellanos scored on a wild pitch from Cardinals pitcher Jake Woodford. As Castellanos dove across the plate, he collided into Woodford trying to cover the plate to make a play. Castellanos got up and flexed and screamed in Woodford’s face, which led to the fracas.
Castellanos was ejected by crew chief Jim Reynolds while Molina ran after Castellanos and tapped him from behind prior to the benches clearing in order to get in his face.
The bullpens also cleared out, which is where Hicks had to be restrained from going after a Reds pitcher.
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