San Diego Padres relief pitcher Ron Marinaccio is facing a three-game suspension and an undisclosed financial penalty after Major League Baseball ruled he deliberately plunked Baltimore Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson with a pitch during Saturday’s game.
Marinaccio has filed an appeal of the suspension, which was originally set to begin with Monday’s road matchup against the St. Louis Cardinals. Under MLB rules, the discipline cannot take effect until the appeals process has run its course.
Meanwhile, Padres manager Craig Stammen — who received a one-game suspension and an undisclosed fine stemming from the same incident during Saturday’s 9-3 San Diego victory in Baltimore — began serving his penalty Monday, the league confirmed.
The hit-by-pitch occurred in the ninth inning, with Marinaccio having already recorded two outs and no runners on base. He struck Henderson on the very first pitch of his at-bat.
The Orioles believed the move was retaliation after Baltimore starter Trey Gibson — who had already walked five batters — hit San Diego’s Xander Bogaerts in the helmet in the fifth inning. That pitch was the rookie’s 93rd of the game. Bogaerts exited in the sixth inning with what Stammen described as “a little spasm here in the neck.”
Henderson said after Saturday’s contest that he believed he was targeted intentionally, noting he had managed to dodge two inside pitches from Padres pitcher Bradgley Rodriguez in the seventh inning but couldn’t get out of the way of Marinaccio’s delivery.
“I guess they were trying to get payback,” Henderson said, “so I guess we’re even now.”
Orioles manager Craig Albernaz said he respected the way the Padres handled the situation, even if he didn’t believe Gibson’s pitch was on purpose.
“Trey (Gibson) hit Bogaerts in the head and their dugout didn’t like it at all. Obviously, it definitely wasn’t intentional. It was a two-seam that slipped out of his hand,” Albernaz said Saturday. “I get there why they’re mad; the ball hit him in the head and he had to come out of the game. I’m not saying the ball to Gunnar was on purpose, but it was done the right way. And that’s why there was no gripes from us, and Gunnar was fine with it and just took it to first base.”
Marinaccio maintained after the game that his approach to Henderson was simply to pitch him on the inside part of the plate.
“He’s a great hitter. You’ve got to make hitters like that uncomfortable at times, and I pulled a fastball a little bit too much there,” Marinaccio said. “I could understand the visual, a couple guys pitching inside earlier, but there were no warnings.”
Stammen also took issue with the umpiring crew’s decision to eject Marinaccio without first issuing a warning, which forced him to bring in reliever Adrian Morejon.
“They definitely thought he did it on purpose. That was not my understanding or my take from it. Ultimately, that’s why I went out and argued,” Stammen said. “Just didn’t think it was warranted. It would’ve been fine if they just warned everybody. We’d have been fine and moved on from there.”
On the season, the 30-year-old Marinaccio owns a 1-0 record with a 3.96 ERA, 10 walks, and 31 strikeouts across 36 1/3 innings in 24 relief outings. For his career, he is 7-5 with two saves, a 3.23 ERA, 75 walks, and 180 strikeouts in 161 2/3 innings over 132 games, all coming out of the bullpen.
