2 MLB pitchers ejected, fined for post-anthem stunt.

Ill-Advised Standoff on the Diamond: Two MLB Pitchers Ejected and Fined

What Happened?

It was a showdown on the diamond that no one saw coming. Kutter Crawford of the Boston Red Sox and Matt Strahm of the Philadelphia Phillies refused to leave the field after the national anthem, instead staring each other down. The two pitchers, who were teammates in Boston last year, apparently goaded each other into the stunt.

“Zero of it was planned,” Strahm told WEEI’s Rob Bradford. “Just, anthem was over, and I looked across, and Kutter kind of gave me a grin, and I knew exactly what that grin meant, so [I] just stood there.”

Red Sox Manager Alex Cora said both players ignored orders to get off the field.

“(The umpire) gave them a warning and they stayed there and they got thrown out of the game,” Red Sox Manager Alex Cora said later. “Both of them.”

The Consequences

Ejections come with automatic fines in Major League Baseball. Those fines are even steeper if a player who is on the injured list gets thrown out of a game. Crawford is on the injured list with a strained hamstring.

“If you get thrown out and you’re on the IL, you get crushed,” Cora said.

The amounts the players will be fined have not yet been announced.

Crawford, 27, is in his third year and earns a salary of $730,000, according to baseballreference.com. Strahm, 31, is in his eighth season and earns more than 10 times as much as his pal. But Cora predicted Crawford’s teammate, Chris Sale, would help his fellow Florida Gulf Coast alum out.

“It’s a big one because you’re on the IL,” Cora said. “I know there’s a guy that went to the same school as him that’s probably going to take care of that.”

Sale makes nearly $30 million per year and has earned nearly $180 million during his illustrious career.

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