Sad News: Ronel Blanco Received 10 Game Suspension After Umpires Found A Foreign Substance In His Glove
Pitcher Ronel Blanco of the Houston Astros has been suspended following his ejection from Tuesday’s game against the Oakland Athletics due to the umpires finding something foreign on his glove.
Before Blanco threw a pitch in the fourth inning, third-base umpire Laz Diaz—who had previously ejected him—checked his glove. The glove was seized and forwarded to the commissioner’s office. The MLB punished the right-hander with a 10-game suspension after that.
On Wednesday, Blanco received a 10-game suspension, reportedly for violating Major League Baseball rules prohibiting foreign substances. In addition to the 10-game suspension, he was also fined an undisclosed amount and will be available to return on May 25.
Blanco responded that wasn’t using any illegal substances, he opted against appealing to get the suspension out of the way, rather than go through the process of appealing. He said,
“Just probably rosin, I put on my left arm. Maybe because of the sweat it got into the glove and that’s maybe what they found.”
Astros general manager Dana Brown said that the right-hander will not appeal,
“Ronel Blanco is a good human being, a good dude, and he’s worked his butt off to get into the starting rotation. I think he sees it as, look, I don’t want to be out. I don’t want to extend this any longer. I want to get back to the business of pitching.”
Blanco had thrown a no-hitter in his season debut allowed four hits and struck out one in three scoreless innings Tuesday. He has a 2.09 ERA this season, as the Astros led 1-0 and were replaced by Tayler Scott.
