The Tampa Bay Rays will likely be down a bullpen arm for the next few games after reliever Edwin Uceta stirred up some emotions during Tuesday night’s contest with the Philadelphia Phillies.
Tensions were riding high in the eighth inning of the Phillies’ 9-4 win over the Rays after Uceta drilled outfielder Nick Castellanos with a 96 m.p.h. fastball.
MLB announced Wednesday that Ucea has been suspended for three games and fined an undisclosed amount for “intentionally throwing at Castellanos.” Rays manager Kevin Cash was also suspended for one game and received a fine.
Uceta has the option to appeal the suspension, but if he chooses not to, his penalty will begin Wednesday night.
After the game, Philadelphia players offered up some choice remarks.
“I just told him that was [expletive],” Castellanos said, according to Dave Uram of KYW Newsradio. “You’re throwing a baseball over 90 m.p.h. and you’re frustrated and you’re gonna throw at somebody.
“That’s like my two-year-old throwing a fit because I take away his dessert before he’s finished.”
Phillies teammate Bryce Harper was one of the first to enter the scrum following the hit-by-pitch, immediately running down to the mound from second base. Following the game he also had some words for the Rays reliever.
“He hit him on purpose,” Harper said. “It’s not the game that we play man. It shouldn’t be. Guys throw too hard nowadays. You’re getting mad because a guy hits a homer off you or you blow the lead … The whole thing really fired me up, really upset me. Just not something that you should accept as Major League Baseball.”
Before Castellanos was hit by the pitch, Uceta gave up a double to Cal Stevenson, a single to Buddy Kennedy, a homer to Trea Turner and a double to Harper in what turned into a five-run inning for Philadelphia.
“I think that he was just pissed off that his numbers got messed up,” Castellanos added. “I can’t explain it, I just know that he had relatively pretty good numbers going into that and just watching him, I could see him getting frustrated.
“He was just pissed off that he got hit around and his ERA shot through the roof.”
Before this appearance, Uceta had been sporting a 0.75 ERA over 36 innings, the best mark on the Rays for any pitcher to throw at least 30 innings.
However, after three earned runs were tabbed to him in this outing, his ERA nearly doubled, shooting up to 1.49.
The 26-year-old righty only lasted one-third of an inning in this one, as he was ejected following the hit-by-pitch.