NEW YORK — Major League Baseball suspended Josh Donaldson for one game Monday after the New York Yankees’ slugger made multiple references to Jackie Robinson while talking to White Sox star Tim Anderson during the weekend.

Donaldson also was fined an undisclosed amount for his actions Saturday at Yankee Stadium. The punishment was announced by Michael Hill, the senior vice president of on-field operations for MLB.

Donaldson has appealed the penalty, meaning he can continue to play until there is a final decision. Shortly before the suspension was announced, the Yankees said Donaldson had been put on the COVID-19 injured list.

“MLB has completed the process of speaking to the individuals involved in this incident. There is no dispute over what was said on the field. Regardless of Mr. Donaldson’s intent, the comment he directed toward Mr. Anderson was disrespectful and in poor judgment, particularly when viewed in the context of their prior interactions,” Hill said in a statement.

“In addition, Mr. Donaldson’s remark was a contributing factor in a bench-clearing incident between the teams, and warrants discipline,” he said.

White Sox pitching coach Ethan Katz didn’t think the penalty was enough.

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“Just one game. We all saw his malice at third a week ago, then this comment with the ridiculous excuse that followed. What’s the point or message behind a 1 game suspension? This is incredibly disappointing and plain frustrating,” Katz posted on Twitter.

The White Sox had a day off Monday. They are not scheduled to play the Yankees again this season.

Yankees star Aaron Judge said Donaldson made “a mistake.”

“You know, joke or not … I just don’t think it’s the right thing to do there, especially given the history, especially the series in Chicago, kind of a little bit of beef between JD and Anderson is one of the best shortstops in the game and a big part of MLB and what’s going on here and how we can grow the game,” Judge said.

“JD, for that one-game suspension, yeah I don’t know. JD made a mistake and owned up to it and now we got to move on,” he said.

Judge, who leads the majors with 17 home runs after hitting two more Monday night in a 6-4 loss to Baltimore, said Donaldson spoke to the team after the incident.

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“JD is a pro. So he talked to all of us and filled us in on what he was referring to about, I guess, a 2019 interview that TA did. But still I just don’t think it was the right move at all.”

Yankees Manager Aaron Boone said he disagreed with MLB’s decision.

“I think they were thoughtful and did their due diligence on it and made what was a tough call. I don’t agree with it. I don’t think it warranted a suspension, but I certainly respect their process,” he said.

Donaldson said he twice called Anderson by “Jackie” — as in Robinson, who famously broke MLB’s color barrier in 1947 — during the Yankees’ 7-5 win on Saturday. The benches and bullpens emptied as tensions escalated.

Anderson, one of baseball’s leading Black voices and an All-Star shortstop, said it was a “disrespectful comment.” White Sox Manager Tony La Russa said it was racist, and Anderson agreed.

“Basically, it was trying to call me Jackie Robinson. Like, ‘What’s up, Jackie?'” Anderson said after Saturday’s game.

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Donaldson, who is white, said he had used the “Jackie” reference in the past with Anderson, who had said he viewed himself as a potential modern-day Robinson in a 2019 interview with Sports Illustrated.

“My meaning of that is not any term trying to be racist by any fact of the matter,” Donaldson said Saturday.

CARDINALS: The St. Louis Cardinals placed star catcher Yadier Molina on the bereavement list.

The move comes one day after Molina made his first career pitching appearance, working the ninth inning of an 18-4 victory at Pittsburgh. He allowed a pair of homers and four runs while finishing the Cardinals’ three-game sweep.

The 39-year-old Molina is batting .239 with two homers and eight RBI in 26 games in what likely will be his final big league season.

Rookie catcher Ivan Herrera was recalled from Triple-A Memphis. The 21-year-old Herrera, one of the organization’s top prospects, is looking for his big league debut.

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BREWERS: The Milwaukee Brewers placed right-hander Freddy Peralta on the 15-day injured list with a right lat strain and put closer Josh Hader on the family medical emergency list.

Milwaukee filled their places on the roster by recalling right-handers Trevor Kelley and Miguel Sanchez from Triple-A Nashville.

DODGERS: The hearing on Trevor Bauer’s attempt to overturn his unprecedented two-year suspension under Major League Baseball’s domestic violence policy began before an arbitrator in New York.

Bauer was suspended by Commissioner Rob Manfred on April 29, a penalty that if unchanged will cost the Los Angeles Dodgers’ pitcher just over $60 million of his $102 million, three-year contract.

Arbitrator Martin Scheinman is the independent member and chair of a three-person arbitration panel that includes one representative each from MLB and the players’ association.

A complicated grievance can take five to 10 hearing days plus additional time for the submission of briefs. The independent member of the panel then drafts a decision.

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OBIT: As a big leaguer, Joe Pignatano had a career that was more noteworthy than notable: He played in the last game at Ebbets Field, he homered off three future Hall of Famers and he hit into a triple play with his final swing in the majors.

It was out in the bullpen at Shea Stadium, where he tended relief pitchers and tomatoes for the 1969 Miracle Mets, where Pignatano’s legacy really grew.

“He was fairly committed to taking care of his tomatoes,” former Mets pitcher Jim McAndrew told The Associated Press.

“It was Joe’s thing,” he said. “A lot of love and effort and TLC.”

Pignatano, who reached the majors as a catcher with his hometown Brooklyn Dodgers and became a longtime coach, died Monday at 92.

The New York Mets said Pignatano died in Naples, Florida, at a nursing home. He had been suffering from dementia.

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Pignatano had been the last living coach from the 1969 Mets, who made a remarkable run under Manager Gil Hodges to reach the World Series and then startled Baltimore and the baseball world for their first championship.

He remained as their bullpen coach through 1981.

“To me, he was Uncle Joe. He loved the city and loved talking about his days with the Dodgers and with Gil. He was a baseball lifer,” former Mets star Lee Mazzilli said.

Pignatano made his major league debut with Brooklyn in 1957. On Sept. 24, he took over for future Hall of Famer Roy Campanella and caught the final five innings in a 2-0 win over Pittsburgh. It was the Dodgers’ last home game before bolting Brooklyn for the West Coast.

In 1959, Pignatano got his biggest hit. In the second game in a best-of-three playoff against Milwaukee for the NL pennant, his two-out single in the bottom of the 12th at the Coliseum set up the winning run scored by Hodges as Los Angeles earned a World Series spot.

The Dodgers went on to win the championship, and Pignatano had a brief appearance behind the plate in the six-game win over the Chicago White Sox.

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After stints with the Kansas City Athletics and San Francisco Giants, he joined the 1962 expansion Mets in midseason. The Mets were awful, setting a modern major league record for losses in going 40-120, and they wrapped up their season in inglorious fashion.

In their final game of the season, at Wrigley Field against the Cubs, they trailed 5-1 when Sammy Drake led off the eighth inning with a single and took second on a single by Richie Ashburn.

Pignatano was up next and sent a liner toward right field – “that ball was labeled base hit from the moment it left the bat” is how it was described on Mets radio.

Instead, Chicago second baseman Ken Hubbs went back and caught the ball and threw to first baseman Ernie Banks, who relayed to shortstop Andre Rodgers for a triple play.

It was Pignatano’s last at-bat in the majors.

A career .234 hitter, he played 307 games and hit 16 home runs. Among the pitchers he tagged for homers were Robin Roberts, Warren Spahn and Jim Kaat, all of them Hall of Famers.

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In 1965, Hodges was managing the Washington Senators when he asked Pignatano to join his coaching staff. In 1968, Pignatano went with Hodges to the Mets.
During the 1969 season, Pignatano discovered a stray tomato plant growing in the right-field bullpen at Shea and kept it healthy. As the Mets continued to win, the plant became something of a good-luck charm and Pignatano’s garden took root.

“It was his home away from home,” McAndrew recalled Monday. “He had five or six hours a day down there with his tomatoes. He really took care of them. When we were on the road, the grounds crew helped out. They had the water.”

Over the years, the ripe, red tomatoes grew and so did the stories about Pignatano’s green thumb. He was always glad to talk about his garden.

But letting others enjoy his harvest? Nope, McAndrew said he never got to taste a single juicy tomato.

“He didn’t share them. They were just for him,” McAndrew said with a laugh. “He was going to reap the fruits of his bounty.”

MONDAY’S GAMES

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PIRATES 2, ROCKIES 1: Ke’Bryan Hayes had three hits and scored the tie-breaking run on Yoshi Tsutsugo’s infield single in the eighth inning as Pittsburgh won at home.

Hayes singled to lead off the eighth against Tyler Kinley (1-1), stole second base and advanced to third on Daniel Vogelbach’s groundout. Tsutsugo then beat out a slow bouncer to second base, enabling Hayes to score.

ORIOLES 6, YANKEES 4: Ramon Urias hit a tie-breaking homer in the sixth inning off Gerrit Cole and visiting Baltimore withstood Aaron Judge’s two home runs to send New York to its season-high third straight loss.

Urias started Baltimore’s four-run third with a double down the left-field line, then snapped a 4-all tie by lining an 0-1 fastball to the short porch in right field off Cole (4-1).

The Yankees, who began the day with the best record in the majors, are on their first three-game losing streak since dropping seven straight last September.

DODGERS 10, NATIONALS 1: Tyler Anderson pitched eight shutout innings, Trea Turner had three RBI in his first game against his former team and Los Angeles routed host Washington.

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Anderson retired his first 16 batters before César Hernández’s one-out double in the sixth.

Turner, who played with Washington for seven seasons before his trade to Los Angeles last July, extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a two-run single in the sixth. He also had an RBI groundout in his first at-bat.
The Dodgers have won 8 of 9 and own the best record in the National League at 28-13. Washington fell to 5-16 at Nationals Park, the worst home record in the majors.

CUBS 7, REDS 4: Ian Happ and Patrick Wisdom hit three-run homers and visiting Chicago beat Cincinnati despite two home runs by Aristides Aquino.

Happ drove in Seiya Suzuki with a fourth-inning double before Wisdom hit his team-leading 10th homer. With Chicago holding a 4-3 lead with two outs in the seventh, Happ drove the first pitch he saw from reliever Luis Cessa into the right-field bleachers.

PHILLIES 7, BRAVES 3:  Zack Wheeler pitched 6 2/3 strong innings with a season-high 10 strikeouts, Rhys Hoskins knocked in three runs with an early double and Philadelphia won at Atlanta.

Wheeler (3-3) improved to 3-0 with a 1.38 ERA with 40 strikeouts in his last five starts. Last year’s Cy Young Award runner-up has allowed two runs or fewer in four of them. Wheeler, who gave up eight hits and two runs with no walks, is 3-2 with a 1.79 ERA in six starts against Atlanta since the start of last season.

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TWINS 5, TIGERS 4: Gio Urshela hit an infield single in the bottom of the ninth inning to give Minnesota a win at home.

Urshela hit a grounder to Tigers shortstop Javier Baez, who couldn’t make a play. That allowed Max Kepler – who hit a grand slam in the first inning – to score the winning run.

GUARDIANS 6, ASTROS 1: Jose Ramirez homered with four RBI and Triston McKenzie pitched seven sharp innings to help Cleveland win at Houston.

Ramirez had two hits, highlighted by a two-run shot in the fifth inning that pushed the lead to 4-0.

McKenzie (3-3) allowed just three hits as he pitched a season-high seven innings for his second straight start. The only run he allowed came on a solo homer by Alex Bregman to start the seventh.

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