Matt Barnes’ appeal attempt appears to be over.
The Boston Red Sox right-handed reliever initially indicated he would appeal his four-game suspension for throwing near Manny Machado’s head Sunday against the Baltimore Orioles, but multiple Sox beat reporters relayed the news Wednesday that he dropped his appeal.
As a result, Barnes will miss two games against the New York Yankees — Wednesday and Thursday — and two games against the Chicago Cubs — Friday and Saturday — before being eligible to return Sunday against the Cubs.
The suspension came as a result of this play:
Matt Barnes throws at Manny Machado for spiking Pedroia on Friday pic.twitter.com/X70Fb3KvgD
— Boston Sports Info (@bostonsportsinf) April 23, 2017
Barnes later denied it was intentional.
Barnes: "I would never intentionally throw at somebody's head. That's a line you don't cross. He has every right to be mad."
— Brian MacPherson (@brianmacp) April 23, 2017
The play was believed to be in response to Machado injuring Dustin Pedroia’s knee on a slide Friday night. Pedroia won’t be in the Red Sox’s starting lineup Wednesday against the Yankees as he continues to recover.
Thumbnail photo via Greg M. Cooper/USA TODAY Sports Images
