Iwamura 3-game Suspension for June 5th Brawl

Tampa Bay Devil Rays second baseman, and former Tokyo Yakult Swallows slugger, Akinori Iwamura, had his appeal to reduce the severity of his three-game suspension rejected.

He will sit out the rest of the series versus the Pittsburgh Pirates and the first game of the Boston Red Sox series that is scheduled for Monday.

Iwamura was cited for punching Coco Crisp after he was already tackled to the ground following Crisp’s beanball-induced mound charge in the bottom of the second inning. A benches-clearing brawl ensued, and three players, Crisp, Shields and Gomes, were ejected. Iwamura stayed in the game and went one for four.

Shields, the pitcher that threw at Crisp, later admitted that it was intentional.

Iwamura was likely still a bit testy from a very hard slide he received from Crisp at second base the night before. This is the same incident that Shields was referring to when he plunked Crisp early in the June 5th contest. Click here for video of the buildup to, and culmination of, the brawl that Iwamura partook in.