Anderson suspended one game for ... racially-charged language

The league announced on Friday that Tim Anderson had been suspended for one game and fined an undisclosed amount for using racially-charged language in the aftermath of getting hit on the ass in the at-bat after celebrating a home run with a dramatic bat flip.

Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Brad Keller was also suspended by MLB for his role in Wednesday’s altercation, which involved drilling Anderson in the ass with a 92 mph fastball.

That pitch came two innings after Anderson drilled a 93.1 mph fastball deep into the left-field stands, punctuating his home run with a baton-twirl “Stick Talk” bat flip. As JustFiskIt has pointed out repeatedly, the home run celebration seemed to clearly come less from rubbing it into Keller than it was in response to the high heat he’d received three pitches before the homer.

Here’s the six-pitch sequence that came in hard and inside on Anderson. The third pitch was 92 mph:

The league made clear that Anderson’s suspension was because of his language during the “brawl” after Anderson was hit, not for his Stick Talk. Jeff Passan of ESPN is reporting that TA used the “N-word” on Keller.

For his part, Anderson on Friday did not seem to dispute the reason for his suspension. He is not appealing, and will sit out Friday’s game:

Keller is suspended for his dumbass adherence to old-school baseball, and presumably his unapologetic tone after the fact. Keller was suspended for five games (one start) and also fined.

White Sox manager Rick Renteria, who came out to clear up the mess, seems not to have a violent bone in his body, which consists of 0.0% redass, also received a one-game suspension and an undisclosed fine for “aggressive actions” after his played was intentionally beaned.

Renteria seemed to travel far toward the Royals dugout, telling players to get off the field, which is presumably something any manager should do. K.C. skip Ned Yost — with at least a slightly-higher redass content than Renteria — then started screaming at Renteria, for “crossing the line” or some nonsense. Funny, when a manager can’t control his players, he yells at the opposing manager, instead of his own players.

Renteria is not appealing his suspension, and will be off tonight as the White Sox face the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. He spoke on Tim Anderson before Friday’s game: