Gary Sanchez throws a sucker punch at Miguel Cabrera during brawl.MLB Network
On Thursday, the New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers were involved in a wild game that included a legit brawl with haymakers, eight ejections, and a fastball to the head James McCann.
On Friday, Major League Baseball suspended four players and one manager a total of 17 games, including seven games for Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera.
Also among the players receiving suspensions was Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez who received a four-game ban. However, if Hall of Fame pitcher Pedro Martinez is correct, the suspension is just the start of problems for Sanchez.
Sanchez’s suspension likely stems from a sucker punch he threw at Cabrera during the brawl while he was on the ground entangled with Yankees catcher Austin Romine.
“At that moment, just instinct takes over because you want to defend your teammate, that’s your family out there,” Sanchez said after the game through an interpreter.
While discussing the brawl on the MLB Network, Martinez noted that this is something the rest of the league is going to remember and that pitchers throughout baseball who are friends with the ever-popular Cabrera may look to exact some revenge.
“The entire league remember those [cheap shots],” Martinez said. “Those don’t go away ever from the league. And most of the other pitchers, the other friends that Miggy has on different teams, they’re going to be looking at that… Gary Sanchez is going to wear it.”
Martinez later added on Twitter that Sanchez will be “badly remembered for this for a long time.”
Cheap shots will stay around the league for ever. I think Gary Sanchez could be badly remembered for this for a long time
— Pedro Martinez (@45PedroMartinez) August 25, 2017
You can see Martinez’s full comments here, starting at the 4:50 mark.
Harold Reynolds, @45PedroMartinez and Greg Amsinger look at every angle of the confrontation between the @Tigers and @Yankees. #MLBTonightpic.twitter.com/sY2rftNyar
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) August 25, 2017