Tony La Russa, Mike Wright suspended for throwing at Shohei Ohtani

On Thursday, Shohei Ohtani was hit by a pitch in the top of the ninth inning in the LA Angels‘ series finale against the Chicago White Sox.

Mike Wright had thrown three pitches nowhere near the zone, and the first two almost hit Ohtani. That last pitch was somehow even worse than the first two he threw at Ohtani and even hit him, despite ShoTime actively trying to dodge the pitch.

As you can see from the video above, both Wright and White Sox Manager Tony La Russa were both ejected, and La Russa even took it out on the bullpen phone. La Russa would not have been ejected if he hadn’t argued, and I really don’t know why he did argue. It was clear that even if Wright didn’t intentionally try to nail Ohtani, the umpires had lots of reason to believe that is what happened.

Mike Wright and Tony La Russa are now facing suspensions since the plunking of Shohei Ohtani.

Mike Wright now has to appeal a three-game suspension for throwing at Shohei Ohtani, and Tony La Russa is serving his one-game suspension tonight.

Due to Wright now appealing his suspension, he can play tonight, and can continue to play until his appeal gets denied. The league, of course, could get rid of the suspension if they see fit after the appeal.

That could happen, however I feel that he would still be suspended at least one game, considering his manager was.

I think it’s actually even somewhat likely that his suspension is cut down, but not dropped completely considering they suspended La Russa just for arguing about it.

The White Sox are in the middle of a road trip and are playing the Rangers tonight and tomorrow, before they head to Detroit for three games.

Wright has been up-and-down this season, and has a 3.38 ERA and a 1.28 WHIP in nine games so far. His team was getting blown out by an injury-depleted Angels team who took the series from the White Sox, and was clearly angered by that fact.