Astros' Blanco suspended 10 games for foreign substance
Houston Astros right-hander Ronel Blanco was handed a 10-game suspension for violating MLB's foreign substance policy, the league announced Wednesday.
He was ejected from Tuesday's game against the Oakland Athletics after a foreign substance check.
Blanco isn't planning on appealing the suspension, Astros general manager Dana Brown said Wednesday, according to The Athletic's Chandler Rome.
Umpires inspected Blanco's glove in the fourth inning before removing him from the contest. He pitched three scoreless innings.
Ronel Blanco has been ejected from the game after a foreign substance was found on his glove. pic.twitter.com/cO2Tuev4iQ
— A's on NBCS (@NBCSAthletics) May 15, 2024
Astros manager Joe Espada said he saw rosin mixed with sweat on Blanco's glove prior to the ejection, according to Rome.
Joe Espada said, from his vantage point, he saw rosin mixed with sweat on Ronel Blanco’s glove. It is illegal to use rosin on your non-pitching hand, Espada said, hence why Blanco was ejected.
— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) May 15, 2024
"It was probably rosin I put on my left arm. Maybe because of the sweat it got into the glove, and that's maybe what they found," Blanco said, according to Rome.
The pitcher added he "doesn't always" put rosin on his left arm but will when he sweats. He also said he didn't know what he did was illegal.
Umpire Erich Bacchus, who inspected Blanco's glove, said, "It was the stickiest stuff I've felt on a glove since we've been doing this for a few years now," according to Rome.
Pitchers Max Scherzer, Drew Smith, Domingo Germán, Caleb Smith, and Héctor Santiago have each been suspended 10 games since MLB began cracking down on the use of foreign substances in 2021.