Saturday's baseball: Chisox Anderson suspended by MLB for contact with umpire

Chicago — Major League Baseball suspended Chicago White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson for three games and fined the All-Star an undisclosed amount Saturday for making contact with plate umpire Nick Mahrley during an argument.

Anderson was in the White Sox lineup hitting leadoff Saturday against Oakland after he appealed the suspension, and he’ll remain active until his appeal is heard. It’s the third time he’s been disciplined by MLB in the past year, including a one-game ban overturned on appeal earlier this season.

Anderson and manager Tony La Russa were ejected Friday in a 7-3 loss to the Athletics after a heated exchanged over a called strike from reliever Domingo Acevedo that appeared to be high. The tip of Anderson’s helmet appeared to make contact with Mahrley.

Before Saturday’s game, La Russa said he watched video from the incident and said, “I think there’s an argument to be made in Tim’s favor, so we’ll see.

“Did you see how the interaction happened?” La Russa added. “The way we see it, there’s an argument to be made that the umpire didn’t move back, he was moving forward as well.”

Anderson missed the first two games of 2022 as punishment for making contact with an umpire during a bench-clearing incident last September. He was also suspended a game in April after directing an obscene gesture toward fans, but that ban was overturned on appeal.

Anderson is batting .310 with six homers and 25 RBIs.

Mariners rally past Astros

Abraham Toro pinch-hit for All-Star Julio Rodriguez and delivered a two-run single with two outs in the ninth inning as the Seattle Mariners rallied past the AL-West leading Houston Astros 5-4 on Saturday night.

Rodriguez was hit on the hand as he swung at a pitch in the top of the eighth inning. He struck out, but played in the field in the bottom half of the inning before being lifted in the ninth. There was no immediate word on Rodriguez’s condition.

The Mariners beat Houston for the first time since June 8, snapping a five-game losing streak to the Astros.

Astros closer Ryan Pressly (3-3) entered the ninth inning having converted 21 of his 24 save opportunities this season. Pressly gave up two runs on two hits, walked one and struck out two in the loss in his first blown save since June 23, which came against the New York Yankees.

Erik Swanson (2-0) pitched a scoreless eighth inning and earned the win, and Paul Sewald recorded his 13th save in 16 attempts.

Seattle starter Chris Flexen set down eight straight batters at one point but didn’t figure in the decision. Flexen allowed two runs on three hits with four walks and a strikeout in 5 1/3 innings. It was his third no-decision in his last eight starts.

Aledmys Diaz led off the fifth with a solo homer to left field. Diaz has hit three home runs in the last two games and nine for the season. Diaz finished 3 for 3 with 2 RBIs.

Trailing 3-2 in the seventh, Houston rallied with back-to-back doubles by Martín Maldonado and Jose Altuve and a single from Yuli Gurriel for a 4-3 lead.

Seattle pushed across three runs on singles from Eugenio Suárez and Adam Frazier, and a fielder’s choice by J.P. Crawford in the first as Valdez hit two batters in the frame.

Valdez settled in after the first and allowed three runs on five hits, walking one and striking out seven in seven innings. It marks his majors-leading 18th quality start and his 17th straight, the second-longest streak in Astros history.