Baseball notes: Royals reliever Kelvin Herrera suspended five games

Major League Baseball suspended Kansas City Royals reliever Kelvin Herrera five games and fined him and starting pitcher Yordano Ventura on Tuesday after both targeted Oakland third baseman Brett Lawrie during a testy series over the weekend.

Herrera was ejected in the eighth inning of Sunday’s game after throwing behind Lawrie, the second time he had thrown inside to him. Ventura was ejected a day earlier when he hit Lawrie with a 99-mph fastball above the left elbow immediately following Josh Reddick’s home run. Herrera is appealing the suspension.

The two incidents came after Lawrie’s hard, late slide into Alcides Escobar at second base Friday night left the Kansas City shortstop with a sprained left knee. Escobar and several other Royals called it a “dirty slide” and unnecessary given the situation.

Price apologizes

Cincinnati Manager Bryan Price apologized for using foul language in a pregame tirade, but said he stood by everything he uttered in between the bad words — specifically his stance that media shouldn’t report developments he thinks would put his team at a competitive disadvantage.

“I used a lot of bad language that I feel bad for in the aftermath,” Price told reporters before Tuesday night’s game at Milwaukee. “And I apologize for that. The content between the profanity is exactly how I felt, and I won’t apologize for that under any circumstances. What I said was exactly how I felt.”

Ortiz suspended

Boston designated hitter David Ortiz was suspended for one game and fined by MLB for making contact with umpire John Tumpane, who ejected him from Sunday’s game against Baltimore during an argument over a strike call on an attempted check swing.

Etc.

Milwaukee’s All-Star catcher Jonathan Lucroy was put on the 15-day disabled list and could miss four to six weeks because of a fractured left big toe suffered when he was struck by a foul tip during Monday’s 6-1 loss.

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The Chicago Cubs called up another of their touted prospects, promoting Addison Russell from triple-A Iowa and starting him against Pittsburgh at second base. Russell had a torrid spring, much like third baseman Kris Bryant, whom the Cubs called up last week.

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The Pirates said a woman who was injured by a foul ball during Monday night’s game against the Cubs has been released from the hospital.

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Arizona placed infielder Jake Lamb on the 15-day disabled list because of a stress reaction in his left foot.