Tigers' Valdez suspended 5 games for throwing at Story

DETROIT — Detroit Tigers pitcher Framber Valdez was suspended for five games and fined Wednesday, one day after he was ejected for hitting Boston's Trevor Story with a pitch during a 10-2 loss in which he allowed a career-high 10 runs.Valdez was at first banned for six games by MLB, which cited him for intentionally throwing a pitch at Story, but the penalty was reduced in an agreement between Major League Baseball and the players' association. He started serving the penalty during Wednesday's series finale and barring rainouts will be eligible to pitch next Wednesday at the New York Mets.Detroit already is missing injured starting pitchers Tarik Skubal (elbow), Casey Mize (hamstring) and Justin Verlander (hip)."Generally when you have an event like last night where there's a disruption of play and there's a guy kicked out of the game for what is deemed throwing at somebody, that doesn't come for free," Detroit manager A.J. Hinch said.Hinch was suspended for one game for what MLB said was Valdez's intentional actions and was to serve the penalty Wednesday.Valdez already allowed eight runs in the first three innings when Willson Contreras hit a 449-foot homer on the first pitch of the fourth. Contreras watched the flight of the ball from home plate before flipping his bat.Two pitches later, Wilyer Abreu boosted the score to 10-2 when he homered into the right-field seats, a 109.1 miles per hour drive.Valdez' next pitch was a 94.4 MPH offering that hit Story between the numbers on his back. Valdez had not thrown a four-seam fastball since last Aug. 3 when he hit Boston's Ceddanne Rafaela under the left arm with a 95.5 MPH pitch with a 3-1 count leading off the sixth inning. The Astros trailed the Red Sox 6-1.When home plate umpire Adam Beck and Tigers catcher Dillon Dingler got between Story and the mound, the Red Sox dugout emptied, followed by Detroit's bench and both bullpens. There was no physical contact and few harsh words.Valdez denied hitting Story on purpose, saying the unfamiliar four-seam fastball got away from him.