After being ejected from Tuesday’s game against the Oakland Athletics, Houston Astros pitcher Ronel Blanco has been suspended, it came after umpires found a foreign substance on his glove.
Third-base umpire Laz Diaz, who had ejected Blanco checked his glove before he threw a pitch in the fourth inning, the glove was confiscated and sent to the commissioner’s office. Following this, MLB issued a 10-game ban to the right-hander.
Ronel Blanco has been suspended 10 games after umpires found a foreign substance in his glove last night pic.twitter.com/ZRcHUjULS7
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) May 15, 2024
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 he 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 was replaced by Tayler Scott.
