Angels’ Anthony Rendon suspended for 5 games after altercation with fan – The Press-Enterprise

Angels third baseman Anthony Rendon was caught on video grabbing a fan’s shirt and engaging in a brief exchange of expletives as he walked from the Angels’ dugout to the clubhouse after Thursday’s season opener in Oakland. On Monday, MLB suspended Rendon five games for the altercation. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

SEATTLE — Anthony Rendon now admits that he made a mistake, one that is going to cost him four games.

“My emotions got the best of me,” the Angels’ third baseman said of his altercation with a fan following the team’s season-opening loss in Oakland on Thursday. “I’m usually pretty good about interacting with fans. Always like to chirp back at them, kind of have fun with it. Me and the gentleman, we spoke on the phone. We both apologized about what had happened. We’re both ready to move forward.”

Major League Baseball initially handed down a five-game suspension, but Rendon appealed and had it quickly reduced by a game.

Rendon was set to begin serving the suspension in the opener of a three-game series in Seattle on Monday night. He will be able to play again on Saturday, in the second game of the Angels’ first home series of the season, against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Rendon was walking from the Angels’ dugout to the clubhouse following a 2-1 loss on Opening Night. He heard comments from a fan standing near the dugout and responded by calling the fan toward the railing. Rendon then grabbed him by the shirt and they exchanged words briefly. Rendon released his shirt and then swiped toward his head with his left hand.

Rendon said Monday that he returned a little later that night to seek out the fan, “just to chat with him a little bit, but the security guard said he was gone.”

Rendon said he doesn’t plan to change the way he deals with fans, this incident aside.

“I’ll still interact with them,” he said. “You could probably see me in the on-deck circle, always chatting with the fans, interacting with them when they’re talking with me. I’m gonna keep on playing along with them.”

Rendon also said he could appreciate the fan’s perspective.

“I can’t be mad,” he said. “I’m a fan too, in other sports. I like heckling when I go to other sports events too, right? Because I’m a human being. For some reason that one got the best of me.”

Angels manager Phil Nevin said he appreciated how Rendon accepted responsibility.

“He’s remorseful for everything that happened,” Nevin said. “Talking to him, the conversation he had with the gentleman involved. I mean, he felt the same way. … This doesn’t at all change how I feel about him as a person, as a human being. He’s a great leader on our team. He’s accepted responsibility as a good leader in person would. Now we move on from it.”

This marks Rendon’s second suspension in less than a year. He was suspended for five games for his participation in a fight between the Angels and Mariners last June. Rendon, who was on the injured list after undergoing wrist surgery, left the Angels’ dugout and took some swings – with his arm in a cast – during the altercation.

OOPS

Rookie catcher Logan O’Hoppe had the ball from his first major league home run tucked safely next to him on Sunday.

Until he didn’t.

O’Hoppe said he boarded the Angels’ charter flight on Sunday afternoon and looked back at the bus driving away when he realized he’d left the ball on the bus.

“My heart dropped pretty hard,” O’Hoppe said on Monday. “I was texting my family ‘Oh God, I messed up pretty good.’”

O’Hoppe realized that he had left the ball on the bus quickly enough for traveling secretary Tom Taylor to make some calls, and they arranged for the ball to be shipped back to Anaheim.