Brawl fallout: M’s place Torrens on IL; await suspensions

By TIM BOOTH
AP Sports Writer

SEATTLE (AP) — The Seattle Mariners lost at least one player to injury from their brawl with the Los Angeles Angels.

They’re waiting to learn who else they’ll lose — and for how long — due to suspension.

Seattle placed catcher Luis Torrens on the 10-day injured list Monday with a left shoulder injury suffered in the melee with the Angels a day earlier. Aside from Torrens and manager Scott Servais sporting some bruises on his arm, the Mariners appeared mostly unscathed from the second-inning fight.

The real pain for Seattle is likely still to come when suspensions are handed down. Outfielder Jesse Winker and shortstop J.P. Crawford are likely to miss several games following their ejections.

“It’s not something that should be a part of Major League Baseball and certainly you can say, ‘Well, this should have happened, or that should have happened.’ You can’t go back in time and change it,” Servais said before Seattle opened a homestand against Baltimore on Monday.

“So there will be some suspensions coming and they’ll hurt because of the players involved. They play a lot for us. They do a really good job, and anytime you lose a key guy, it hurts.”

The brawl happened in the second inning of Sunday’s 2-1 win by the Angels — four minutes of mayhem that led to a delay of about 18 minutes.

The Angels were upset after Mike Trout was nearly hit in the head by a pitch from Seattle’s Erik Swanson on Saturday night. Interim manager Phil Nevin made the late decision to go with little-used reliever Andrew Wantz as an opener Sunday.

Wantz threw a pitch behind Julio Rodriguez’s head in the first inning, then hit Winker in the hip to start the second.

That’s when the chaos started. Both teams threw numerous punches in the melee that began when Winker charged the Angels’ emptying dugout after yelling at Nevin.

Winker was still angry Monday. Asked if the brawl was a bad look for baseball, Winker responded, “I think it’s a bad look on Phil Nevin and could have been handled differently.”

Winker said his anger stemmed from Rodriguez — the Mariners young 21-year-old center fielder — being the initial target, and Wantz not being immediately ejected. He also pinned the ensuing fracas on chirping from the Angels dugout by Nevin and injured third baseman Anthony Rendon.

Winker acknowledged he’ll face a significant suspension.

“It’s an unfortunate part because it could have all been stopped with a simple objection, and people just not talking,” Winker said. “There’s a man with a cast on and a manager talking. That’s why this started. If they’re not talking, none of that happens.

“But they decide to run their mouth and I didn’t like that. It’s that simple. There’s nothing else left to say about that. They’re going to suspend me, they’re going to suspend Crawford and that’s MLB’s decision. Whatever, it’s part of it.”

Seattle called up catcher Andrew Knapp from Triple-A Tacoma to take Torrens’ spot on the roster. Torrens was having additional imaging done to get a full picture of the shoulder injury, Servais said.

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