Astros starter Ronel Blanco suspended 10 games after being ejected when foreign substance found in glove

Associated Press | Wednesday, May 15, 2024 4:54 p.m.

Houston Astros starting pitcher Ronel Blanco talks with second base umpire Tripp Gibson after being ejected following a foreign substance check during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Oakland Athletics in Houston.

HOUSTON — Astros starter Ronel Blanco received a 10-game suspension Wednesday for violating MLB’s prohibitions on foreign substances after being ejected from the game against the Oakland Athletics.

The suspension was announced by Michael Hill, MLB’s senior vice president of on-field operations. The suspension will begin Wednesday night unless Blanco appeals the penalty, which also includes an undisclosed fine.

Blanco was ejected on Tuesday at the start of the fourth inning of the 2-1 win over Oakland when umpires found a foreign substance that first base umpire Erich Bacchus said was “the stickiest stuff I’ve felt on a glove.”

Ronel Blanco has been ejected from the game after a foreign substance was found on his glove. pic.twitter.com/cO2Tuev4iQ

— A's on NBCS (@NBCSAthletics) May 15, 2024

Third base umpire Laz Diaz ejected Blanco after a check of his glove before he threw a pitch in the fourth inning. The umpires, Blanco and Houston manager Joe Espada stood at the mound for a couple of minutes discussing the issue before the right-hander was ejected.

Bacchus said there was nothing on Blanco’s glove when he checked it in the middle of the first, but he discovered it when he did his second check before the fourth.

“I felt something inside the glove,” Bacchus said. “It was the stickiest stuff I’ve felt on a glove since we’ve been doing this for a few years now.”

After Bacchus discovered the substance he called the rest of the crew in to confer.

“Everybody checked the glove to make sure we all had the same thing and he had to get ejected because he had a foreign substance on his glove,” Diaz said.

Blanco denied using an illegal substance.

“Just probably rosin I put on my left arm,” he said in Spanish through a translator. “Maybe because of the sweat it got into the glove and that’s maybe what they found.”

Ronel Blanco says he asked the umpire to check his hands because if there is something sticky in the glove it should be on his hands. They didn’t check his hands. He said he thinks rosin and he didn’t know it’s illegal for it to get on your non-pitching hand. #Astros #ChalkTalk pic.twitter.com/dfb2mAJrEZ

— Kim Davis (@kimydavis) May 15, 2024

Espada added that when he went to the mound he saw “white powder” inside Blanco’s glove.

“It looked to me when I grabbed the glove (that) there was some rosin,” Espada said. “You’re not allowed to use rosin on your non-pitching hand and that’s what it looked like to me. It was a little bit sticky with the moisture and the sweat but that’s what it looked like to me.”

"We gotta figure out a better way than this"

After Ronel Blanco's ejection, @aj_pierzynskiFT says MLB needs a better system for identifying & testing the "sticky substances" pic.twitter.com/u5ip5lwrSw

— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) May 15, 2024

Blanco, who threw a no-hitter in his season debut, allowed four hits and struck out one in three scoreless innings Tuesday. He has a 2.09 ERA this season.