Major League Baseball has determined that Jacob Rhame's pitches at Rhys Hoskins' head were intentional. Rhame has been suspended two games, chief baseball officer Joe Torre announced Thursday.
In the span of six pitches Tuesday night, Rhame threw two high-90s pitches that sailed over Hoskins' head in the ninth inning of a 9-0 game. The Mets claimed it was accidental, as teams always do, but nobody on the Phillies' side believed it.
It was apparent retaliation for two Mets being hit by pitches in consecutive at-bats by two different Phillies pitchers the previous night. Jose Alvarez and Juan Nicasio clearly were not trying to hit either Met in a close game.
MLB's ruling comes a day after Hoskins got his revenge on Rhame with a ninth-inning home run and a trot around the bases that lasted more than 34 seconds (see story).
There is definite bad blood brewing between these teams, which is good for baseball.
"That's what a rivalry is," Hoskins said Wednesday night.
The Phillies and Mets haven't both been positioned to contend in the same year for close to a decade. The teams don't meet again for two months but when they do, it will be interesting to see whether those feelings have lingered and if the Mets aim to send Hoskins another message.
MLB
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