Baseball notes: Dodger's Joe Kelly suspended 8 games for throwing at Astros hitters

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Joe Kelly was suspended for eight games by Major League Baseball on Wednesday, a day after throwing a fastball near the head of Houston's Alex Bregman and mockingly taunting Astros star Carlos Correa.

Benches cleared after Kelly's actions during the sixth inning of Los Angeles' 5-2 win at Minute Maid Park. The game marked the first time the teams had met since it was revealed Houston stole signs en route to a 2017 World Series title that came at the Dodgers' expense.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was suspended one game, and Astros manager Dusty Baker was fined an undisclosed amount.

Kelly elected to appeal and can continue to play until the process is complete. Roberts was serving his penalty Wednesday night when the Dodgers played at Houston.

Kelly, a hard thrower with a touch of wildness, has previously been suspended in his career for throwing at a batter.

The lingering animosity the Dodgers felt toward the Astros — who were penalized by MLB in the offseason after their scam came to light — had been brewing. It bubbled over when Bregman, a star of the Astros' run to their championship, came to bat in the bottom of the sixth on Tuesday night.

The Dodgers led 5-2 when Kelly, who was with Boston in 2017 and also faced Houston that postseason, zipped a 3-0 fastball behind Bregman's head. Bregman grimaced after jumping to avoid being hit, then trotted to first base.

Kelly struck out Correa to end the inning, then stuck out his tongue and made a face in his direction. Correa started walking toward him and the players exchanged words, prompting the benches to clear in the first such incident of this pandemic-delayed season. Kelly denied that he purposely threw at the Astros. "It's one of those things that I pitch competitively," he said. "With no fans here, it's easy to hear some stuff [from the opposing dugout]. … There's something they apparently didn't take too kind to."

Nick Markakis is returning to the Atlanta Braves, three weeks after announcing he was opting out of the season over his concerns about the coronavirus pandemic.

Markakis, the veteran outfielder who is in his sixth season with Atlanta, said Wednesday he changed his mind about sitting out after watching his teammates play the first five games.

"Sitting at home, watching these guys compete … and all the risks they're going through going out there, in the pit of my stomach I felt I wanted to be out there," Markakis said.

John McNamara, who managed the Boston Red Sox to within one strike of a World Series victory in 1986 before an unprecedented collapse on the field extended the team's championship drought into the new millennium, has died. He was 88. McNamara died Tuesday at his home in Tennessee, his wife, Ellen, said. The death was unexpected and the cause was not yet known, she said.

With a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven World Series against the New York Mets, the Red Sox went ahead 5-3 in the 10th inning of Game 6 at Shea Stadium before a tumultuous series of mistakes allowed the NL champions to tie the score and then win it when Mookie Wilson's ground ball rolled through first baseman Bill Buckner's legs. The Mets won Game 7, leaving Boston without a championship until 2004.

The Boston Globe first reported McNamara's death on Wednesday — a day the Red Sox were also in New York to play the Mets.