Tim Anderson out, Jose Ramirez in after wild MLB brawl

Associated Press | Sunday, August 6, 2023 4:37 p.m.

The White Sox’s Michael Kopech (right) holds back the Guardians’ Jose Ramirez (second from right) as Ramirez and Tim Anderson fight Saturday.

CLEVELAND — Tim Anderson was not in the Chicago White Sox’s starting lineup Sunday and Cleveland’s Jose Ramirez is playing as MLB weighs likely discipline following a fight and wild brawl in Saturday night’s game.

Anderson and Ramirez threw punches at second base, and the Guardians’ All-Star third baseman knocked down the White Sox shortstop with an overhand right to the chin. Anderson was dazed by the blow.

Both players were ejected, along with Cleveland manager Terry Francona, third base coach Mike Sarbaugh, closer Emmanuel Clase and Chicago manager Pedro Grifol.

Before Sunday’s series finale, Grifol said Anderson isn’t injured, and this was a planned off day for the 30-year-old. Chicago also is resting Andrew Benintendi and Andrew Vaughn.

“He’s OK,” Grifol said of Anderson. “He was going to get a day off today just like Bennie and Vaughn. It might not look that way, but it is what it is.”

Jose Ramirez and Tim Anderson started quite the brawl in Cleveland ????

(via @NBCSWhiteSox)pic.twitter.com/i80OeXD2dF

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) August 6, 2023

Grifol did not want to discuss specifics of the altercations or possible discipline. He also avoided characterizing Anderson’s actions.

“I’m not going to get into that,” he said. “I’ve had my conversations with Tim, but I’m not going to get into anything that happened last night. I’ll let MLB take care of all that stuff, but I’m not going to talk about the fight.”

Francona did not have a scheduled pregame availability.

With it being the weekend and Sunday’s 12:05 p.m. start time for the game, MLB still was reviewing the melee, which included several flareups and took the umpiring crew more than 15 minutes to sort out.

The Anderson-Ramirez fight began innocently enough.

When Ramirez slid headfirst into second base with an RBI double in the sixth inning, Anderson was straddling over the top of him. Ramirez later said he felt Anderson’s tag was too hard and indicated he had been bothered by Chicago’s star for “disrespecting” the game.

Anderson dropped his glove and squared off against Ramirez, who swung wildly and connected to drop Anderson to the ground. As both benches and bullpens emptied, Anderson tried in vain to get at Ramirez before being forced into Chicago’s dugout.

Anderson reappeared on the field and tried to get at Ramirez before Chicago first baseman Vaughn wrapped him in a bear hug and physically carried him off the field.

On Friday, Anderson pushed Cleveland rookie Brayan Rocchio off the base, leading to a contested call that wound up being overturned by replay. Also, Anderson was warned by an umpire Saturday for jawing at Guardians rookie Gabriel Arias.

It has been a heated rivalry between the AL Central teams, but this is the first time in recent memory it has gone beyond trash talk and bench jockeying.