Mets right-handed reliever Hansel Robles will appeal the three-game suspension handed down by MLB on Thursday. That should still keep him available for the remainder of the Mets regular season.
Robles’ suspension came as a result of throwing a baseball toward the head of Phillies catcher Cameron Rupp on Wednesday. MLB ruled that Robles’s pitch was “intentional.”
Before that incident, warnings were issued to both sides after Yoenis Cespedes and Kirk Nieuwenhuis were hit by pitches and the Mets responded when Logan Verrett plunked Odubel Herrera,
Manager Terry Collins praised Robles’ decision to appeal and didn’t think that he intentionally threw at Rupp.
“Obviously, after a warning, and then they eject somebody, I knew somebody was going to get suspended,” Collins said. “I figured that might come down. Do I think he threw at him? Absolutely not. First of all, there was absolutely no reason to — or was there anybody involved in the last time this happened when Robles quick-pitched Darin Ruf in August.”
“Now, I will tell you, if there was a reason we needed to retaliate for something, I get it. We already did that. That was already done. So I didn’t think anything else should have been necessary. So I don’t blame Robles.”
As far as the appeal process goes, when it’s complete, no part of the suspension will happen during the playoffs. Instead it would carry over to the 2016 season.
