The Mets paid the price for throwing Milwaukee’s Rhys Hoskins in the backfield, and manager Carlos Mendoza and right-hander Johan Ramirez were disciplined by MLB on Sunday.
Mendoza and Ramirez were fined and suspended, with Mendoza serving his suspension on Sunday and Ramirez choosing to appeal his suspension, which will result in the series starting on Sunday at Citi Field. He was able to participate in the final match.
The ruling came after Hoskins’ controversial but legal slide to second base on Friday infuriated the Mets, prompting Jeff McNeil to yell at Hoskins and ask the bench to eject him.
Hoskins, a longtime Mets pest since his days with the Phillies, was booed during Saturday’s game but responded by getting on base in the fourth inning.
In the seventh inning, Ramirez threw high behind Hoskins, resulting in Ramirez’s ejection.
After the game, he drew applause from the Citi Field crowd as he left the field, but denied it was intentional.
“I was trying to throw the sinker inside,” Ramirez said through an interpreter after Saturday’s game.
He blamed the cold weather.
“In weather like this, you don’t have the grip that you’re used to,” Ramirez said. “But I didn’t mean to hit him.”
Mendoza defended Ramirez, and Brewers manager Pat Murphy said Saturday that “I don’t think it was intentional.”
Still, Hoskins didn’t believe Ramirez’s statement Saturday, saying, “Big leaguers don’t miss eight feet. Whether it was intentional or not is not for me to decide. I really don’t care.”
