Tigers upset Bonderman suspended for 3 games by MLB and Twins’ Mijares wasn’t suspended

Tigers’ Bonderman suspended for 3 games by MLB

DETROIT — Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski does not agree with Major League Baseball’s decision to suspend Detroit pitcher Jeremy Bonderman while only fining Twins pitcher Jose Mijares.

Bonderman was suspended for three games Friday for intentionally hitting Minnesota’s Delmon Young with a pitch, and Mijares was docked an undisclosed amount of money for intentionally throwing behind Detroit’s Adam Everett.

“I don’t think the ruling makes any sense,” Dombrowski said Friday night, before Detroit opened a three-game series against the Chicago White Sox with a two-game lead in the AL Central over the Twins.

“I don’t know how the person who starts it doesn’t get some sort of penalty too,” Dombrowski added. “I’ve expressed that to people in the commissioner’s office.”

Thursday’s situation started with inside pitches — two at Detroit’s Marcus Thames and one at Minnesota’s Denard Span — and ended with Young screaming at teamamte Mijares after getting hit.

“This was nothing more than a great series until, for some unknown reason, a foolish pitch by a Minnesota pitcher,” Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. “I’m so sad to see the Tigers paying for it more than the pitcher who threw the pitch.”

After spending a moment on the ground in obvious pain, Young got up, slammed his helmet to the ground and had to be held back from going toward Minnesota’s dugout because he was upset with Mijares.

Mijares told reporters in Minneapolis his head was “not in the game” and that he planned to apologize to the team — and Young individually — for his action. Mijares said he realized following the game he made a mistake after teammate Orlando Cabrera confronted him.

Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire said the conflict between Mijares and Young was resolved, but did not want to talk about the subject.

“We’ve got three big games here that we have to win,” Gardenhire said Friday night before the Twins hosted Kansas City in their series opener. “Can we just talk baseball?”

Gardenhire said he wasn’t surprised Mijares, one of his key setup men, wasn’t suspended.

“I didn’t think they would, they didn’t throw him out of the game,” Gardenhire said.

Both benches cleared after Bonderman hit Young, but the players only milled around once they realized that Young wasn’t about to charge the mound.

“Trust me, Delmon wasn’t at all upset with the Tigers,” Span said Thursday. “He knew what was going to happen, and he was angry at our teammate. I probably would have felt the same way if I had been the first batter up in that inning.”

Gardenhire and some of his players also were unhappy with Mijares after the series in Detroit ended.

“I want to make this perfectly clear — our pitcher lost his cool and threw a pitch behind one of their players, and you don’t do that,” Gardenhire said. “We told them that we screwed up, and that we know they did what they needed to do, and that it is over. I talked to Mr. Leyland, and I told him that.”

Leyland was ejected after a face-to-face argument with plate umpire Angel Hernandez that followed Mijares’ pitch behind Everett.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been as shocked in my baseball life as when he threw that pitch,” said Leyland, who has been a part of professional baseball for nearly a half-century.

Bonderman, who also was fined, appealed the penalty assessed by MLB vice president Bob Watson, delaying the start of the suspension.

Tigers hitting coach Lloyd McClendon also was suspended for one game and fined because Bonderman acted intentionally following warnings to both teams during Minnesota’s 8-3 win Thursday. McClendon was acting manager following Leyland’s ejection.

“Lloyd McClendon got a $1,000 fine and a one-game suspension and didn’t even get kicked out of the game,” Leyland said.

Leyland and catcher Gerald Laird were fined for arguing with Hernandez.

Bonderman and Tigers catcher Gerald Laird were immediately ejected after the pitch that hit Young.

“I knew I was going to get thrown out, that’s the rule,” Bonderman said.

Laird said he’d never seen a player react the way Young did to being hit by a pitch.

It was a first for Twins catcher Mike Redmond, too.

“I’ve seen players get angry with their own pitcher in that situation before, but I’ve never seen it happen on the field,” Redmond said. “I understand why he was angry, and I understand why Leyland was upset.”

AP Sports Writer Dave Campbell in Minneapolis contributed to this report.