Phillies left-handed reliever, Jose Alvarado has been suspended for three games following his interaction with Dominic Smith and the Mets. The MLB declared Alvarado was suspended for “inciting a benches-clearing incident.” Alvarado will appeal the suspension however if the suspension stands he will be unavailable for tonight’s series rubber match against the Mets and the first two against the Milwaukee Brewers.

The interaction occurred when Alvarado struck out Dominic Smith in the eighth inning of Friday’s matchup, with the game-tying run on third with two outs. Following the strikeout, Alvarado immediately began chirping Smith and tossed his hat and glove on the ground. The benches quickly cleared and the interaction was stopped soon after. Smith and Alvarado have a bit of history as they also had words for each other in the Phillies-Mets series earlier in the year after Michael Conforto was hit by a pitch by Alvarado.

Following the game, Dominic Smith stated, “I’m a grown-ass man. Come meet me then if you really got a problem and we can solve it. He can meet me in the tunnel if we really want to get after it.”

Three games seems a bit excessive especially when you look at some of the other suspensions that have occurred this season, and it should be interesting to see if the suspension holds up. Regardless, the Phillies and Mets will square off in the series rubber match tonight at 7:00 on ESPN as Zach Eflin will get the ball for the Phillies and David Peterson will get the ball for the Mets.

Mandatory Credit: Rich Schultz | Getty Images