Phillies reliever José Alvarado appeals three-game suspension for ‘inciting a benches-clearing incident’

Joe Girardi watched Friday night’s eighth inning from Florida, pleading with the TV for Phillies reliever Jose Alvarado to not be ejected or do anything worthy of a suspension as tempers flared and the dugouts cleared in South Philadelphia following Alvarado’s inning-ending strikeout.

“There’s not a lot that I can do,” Girardi said Sunday, a day after returning from his daughter’s college graduation in the Sunshine State. “A lot of times, I’ll try to run out and grab players even though he’s twice as big as me, I would have grabbed him. It’s kind of tough.”

Girardi’s plea from Florida was not enough as the 245-pound Alvarado was suspended Sunday for three-games by Major League Baseball for “inciting a benches-clearing incident.” Alvarado is appealing the suspension and is available to pitch until his appeal hearing.

The left-hander struck out Mets left fielder Dominic Smith after starting the at-bat with three straight balls. Alvarado then yelled at Smith and taunted him. Smith walked toward the pitcher and players from both teams rushed to home plate.

“They felt that he instigated, but that doesn’t cause everyone to run out of the dugout, right?” Girardi said. “But that’s what it is and we’ll have to deal with this and do the best we can.”

Smith and Mets reliever Miguel Castro “received undisclosed fines for their roles in the on-field incident.” Smith said after Friday’s win that Alvarado waited for his teammates to grab him and the pitcher could meet him in “the tunnel tomorrow if he really wants to get after it.”

Castro brushed Rhys Hoskins off the plate with two straight fastballs in the bottom of the eighth, prompting the dugouts and bullpen to clear again. No players were ejected.

“A couple balls were a little close and nobody likes that. But it’s nothing. Emotions were high,” Hoskins said. “That’s how these division games are. It doesn’t matter if it’s April or September. It seems like we always have these dogfight games, especially against the Mets.”

Last week, Girardi was ejected in St. Louis after Bryce Harper and Didi Gregorius were hit on consecutive pitches. Four days later, Alvarado was suspended while the Mets were only fined. And on Saturday night, Harper was ejected for arguing from the dugout after an umpire wrongly ruled that Andrew McCutchen left the baseline when eluding a tag on his way to second base.

“The wrong side. I think the proper way is that you’re on the wrong side of it,” Girardi said. “It’s really frustrating to me because you can go through each scenario and see something that’s totally different. I think it’s in a sense that it’s justified in a lot of ways. It is what it is. We just have to get on the right side.”

Alvarado and Smith exchanged words earlier this season in New York when Smith hollered from the dugout after Alvarado hit Michael Conforto with a pitch. Alvarado waved his hand at Smith and brushed him off, but the issue was not resolved when the two met three weeks later.

“There’s so much more emotion that’s allowed in this game and it’s actually encouraged, that I think sometimes things like this are going to happen and that’s the fall out,” Girardi said. “The unfortunate thing is people want to see emotion, but managers don’t want to see players suspended. To me, it kind of stinks. It might have been the most important part of that game, too.”

Harper and J.T. Realmuto both returned to the lineup on Sunday night after missing the first two games of the series with sore wrists. ... Roman Quinn returned from the COVID-19 injured list and Mickey Moniak was reassigned to the alternate site in Allentown. ... Vince Velasquez will start Monday’s series opener against Milwaukee as Matt Moore remains in the bullpen.