Eaton serves one-game suspension for bench-clearing flap

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The White Sox were without their right fielder in the second game of Thursday's doubleheader.

Adam Eaton served the one-game suspension he was given for his role in the benches-clearing incident against the Cleveland Indians earlier this month.

On April 15, Eaton sparked the two teams to empty out onto the field when he became heated over an out call at second base in the first inning. He believed he was pushed off the bag by Cleveland shortstop Andrés Giménez, resulting in his being called out, and he wasn't at all happy about it, getting into it with Giménez and bringing everyone employed by both clubs onto the field. That, of course, is a big no-no in violation of the league's COVID-19 protocols.

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"From my viewpoint, I slid in and I stopped. And once I stopped my slide, I’m safe," Eaton said after that game. "It happened pretty quick, but my arm gets lifted up and pushed off the bag. Once that happened, I said, 'Bill (Miller, second-base umpire), I just got pushed off the bag,' hopefully trying to get him to change his mind. But of course he didn’t.

"Then things kind of escalated a little bit there. Not that I wanted that. ... I let the emotions kind of get the best of me there just because I felt like any time you get pushed off the bag when you are safe, it’s a little frustrating. I kind of let emotions get the best of me."

Eaton appealed his suspension, but that obviously didn't go the way he hoped it would. He served his suspension during Game 2 of the pair of seven-inning affairs the White Sox played against the division-rival Detroit Tigers on Thursday.

Eaton received an undisclosed fine in addition to the one-game ban. Two Cleveland players, Jake Bauers and Cesar Hernandez, were also fined for their roles in the incident.

Losing Eaton for one seven-inning game is about as good an outcome as there could have been for the White Sox, though certainly they'll miss a guy who's produced offensively in his return to the South Side, especially with manager Tony La Russa pointing out between games of the doubleheader that the White Sox aren't doing a good enough job providing run support for their starting pitchers.

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