MLB Notebook: Red Sox pitcher Matt Barnes suspended 4 games for buzzing Machado

Red Sox pitcher Matt Barnes has been suspended four games and fined for throwing a fastball past the head of Baltimore star Manny Machado.

The commissioner’s office issued the penalty Monday. The Red Sox are off and Barnes is appealing, meaning the reliever can continue to pitch until the process is done.

Barnes was ejected Sunday after sailing a fastball past Machado’s helmet at Baltimore. The right-hander is 2-0 with a 3.60 ERA in nine games this season.

On Friday night at Camden Yards, Machado made a late slide that injured Boston second baseman Dustin Pedroia.

On Sunday, Machado batted in the sixth inning and dodged out of the way when Boston starter Eduardo Rodriguez threw three pitches down and in around the knees. Machado came up again in the eighth and Barnes’ fastball whizzed behind his helmet.

The Orioles and Red Sox play again next Monday at Fenway Park.

Sano disciplined for altercation

Minnesota’s Miguel Sano has been suspended for one game and fined by Major League Baseball for what the sport termed “aggressive actions” that caused benches to clear during a game against Detroit last weekend.

Detroit’s JaCoby Jones was hit in the face by a pitch from Justin Haley in the third inning of the Tigers’ 5-4 victory Saturday. Two innings later, Detroit’s Matthew Boyd threw behind Sano, who pointed his bat toward Boyd and yelled out at the mound. Tigers catcher James McCann intervened and appeared to put his mitt in the face of Sano , who reacted immediately with a right hand to McCann’s mask.

Joe Torre, MLB’s chief baseball officer, announced Sano’s suspension Monday. The players’ association appealed, allowing Sano to continue playing until the appeal is heard and decided.

Boyd was fined after MLB concluded he intentionally threw a pitch at Sano.

Twins general manager Thad Levine said the organization will support Sano’s decision to appeal “by providing video and some commentary around the situation that Major League Baseball may otherwise not have the benefit of.” He didn’t elaborate on what that was.

“In my head, I didn’t do anything wrong, so we’ll see what happens,” Sano said through a translator before the Twins’ game at Texas on Monday night.

Twins manager Paul Molitor said the team thinks it has a “fairly legitimate case” as to why MLB should at least consider reducing the penalty against Sano.

Starters on the shelf

• The Diamondbacks placed right-handed starter Shelby Miller on the 10-day disabled list with right elbow inflammation. Miller, off to a good start after an awful 2016 season, left in the fifth inning of Sunday’s game against the Dodgers. He is 2-2 with a 4.09 ERA in four starts.
• RHP Aaron Nola was placed on the disabled list because of a lower back strain, but the Phillies expect the right-hander to miss only one or two starts. He has a 4.50 ERA in his first three starts of the season after missing the final two months of last season because of an elbow injury.