Tim Anderson suspended 6 games for fight, Jose Ramirez out 3

Chicago White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson has been suspended for six games, Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez for three and Cleveland closer Emmanuel Clase for one for their parts in Saturday's benches-clearing brawl,Major League Baseball announced Monday.

Also suspended for one game were managers Pedro Grifol and Terry Francona, as well as Guardians third base coach Mike Sarbaugh.

All parties also incurred fines.

Anderson and Ramirez are appealing their suspensions, so their discipline will be held in abeyance until the process completes. Grifol, Francona and Clase served their suspensions Monday, and Sarbaugh will serve his Tuesday.

"When something like that happens, there's going to be a price to be paid," said Francona, who expressed gratitude that Michael Hill, MLB vice president of on-field operations, had reached out to him.

Francona didn't offer opinion on the severity of Ramirez's penalty.

"He's going to appeal," he said. "My hope is that he always can lower it because he's such a good player. I thought they seemed to me to be extremely conscientious in what they were doing, at least when I talked to them.

"If you're the home team or you want your guys to get none, you want them to get 20. That's probably not the way it's going to work."

The two teams clashed when Ramirez and Anderson squared off near second base after Ramirez slid in safely on a double in the bottom of the sixth inning Saturday. The fight was the culmination of several days of trash-talking and gesturing between the teams, which most recently picked up in a series in late July in Chicago.

In a game July 27, Guardians first baseman Josh Naylor imitated former White Sox third baseman Jake Burger's base-hit celebration and Anderson took exception, according to sources familiar with the situation. In that same game, Clase struck out Andrew Benintendi looking to end the game, then yelled in the direction of the Chicago dugout. Anderson, in particular, could be seen looking out at the mound from the White Sox dugout as the Guardians celebrated their win.

Over the next few games, Anderson increased his trash-talking, including carrying it over to Cleveland for their weekend series. On Friday, Anderson pulled Guardians infielder Brayan Rocchio off the bag at second, leading to him being called out, further angering Cleveland players.

Also fined were White Sox starter Michael Kopech and Guardians outfielder Gabriel Arias.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.