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MLB handed down disciplinary actions for Los Angeles Angels outfielder Jorge Soler and Atlanta Braves pitcher Reynaldo López for their roles in Tuesday night's bench-clearing brawl at Angel Stadium.

Both Soler and López have been suspended seven games and were fined an undisclosed amount, MLB senior vice president of on-field operations Michael Hill announced via press release. The suspensions had been scheduled to begin in the final of the three-game series between the Angels and Braves on Wednesday afternoon, but MLB announced that both players are appealing the decision, which will put any suspension on hold until the process is complete.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Chad Bishop later reported that López and MLB have reached a settlement to reduce his suspension to five games, effective immediately.

Soler was in the starting lineup for Wednesday's game and hit a solo homer in the bottom of the second.

"It's obviously disappointing losing a guy like Jorgie, in the clubhouse, obviously what he's been doing on the field for us," Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said after their 8-2 loss on Wednesday. "But at the same time, I'm 100% behind what he did. I felt like that was what he needed to do and I support him 100%. He's appealing it, so we'll see how it goes after that."

The confrontation began brewing after Soler hit a two-run home run off López in the bottom of the first inning on Tuesday, the fifth in 23 career at-bats off of his former teammate. López appeared to have retaliated by plunking Soler with a pitch inside that got him on the wrist/hand area, after which Soler was visibly frustrated.

Then in the fifth, all hell broke loose.

MASSIVE brawl breaks out in Anaheim as Jorge Soler and Reynaldo López throw punches at each other after Soler took exception to a high-and-in pitch. pic.twitter.com/SOHkZjVqNn

— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) April 8, 2026

López threw a ball up and in that flew over the head of Soler while teammate Nolan Schanuel took second on the wild pitch. Soler stayed in the batters box the entire time, staring down López.

"I have good numbers against him," Soler told reporters in Spanish after the game. "I hit a home run, my second time up he hits me in the hand, and then threw me another one up and in. This is the big leagues, you can't be throwing that."

Soler told reporters he asked López if he was okay, to which he responded with a bad word. Soler then took a few steps toward the mound and began to charge as López raised his arms. The two 2021 World Series champions exchanged haymakers on the diamond like it was a heavyweight boxing match as benches cleared until Braves manager Walt Weiss tackled Soler to the ground.

Both Soler and López were ejected from the game, which would go on to be a 7-2 win for Atlanta.

While Soler believes that López was intentionally trying to hit him, López maintains that it was an accident.

“We spent time together as teammates and so I just think it was a misunderstanding because I would never do anything,” López told reporters in Spanish. “I wasn’t trying to hit him and there was never any intent on my part to hit him at all at any point.”

It was initially speculated around the league that López would get a heavier punishment because he held the ball during the fight and struck Soler in the helmet with it at one point, but that was apparently not the case.

Cantillo was great today. He unfortunately didn’t finish the 6th, but went 5.2 solid innings walking only 2 Royals hitters. He struck out 9, and did a fantastic job of limiting hard contact. He had some trouble locating his fastball, but all of his other pitches were consistently in the zone. Entering today’s game, Guardians starters averaged a tick over 5 innings a start (5th in MLB), and posted a 2.77 ERA (2nd in MLB). The rotation has been fantastic so far. They’re striking out over 10.5 hitters per 9 innings, although they are walking roughly 4.5 hitters/9. Both their walk rate and HR rate are bottom 10 in MLB, but they’ve managed to limit damage otherwise. It helps that, so far, they’ve induced the 11th most groundballs in MLB. The pitching staff, today, notched their 10th game with 10+ strikeouts, the most in MLB (2nd most has 7). To the offense!

The Guardians had 16 hits today which, per MLB.com’s Tim Stebbins, tied their season-high from 2025. They only had 15+ hits 3 times last season. Definitely an encouraging sign that they’re having outbursts like today’s so early in the season.

Cole Ragans did not get out of the first inning today. He was first hit in the hand by a Jose comebacker, but stayed in the game.

He then walked Fry and gave up an RBI double off the wall to DeLauter. He was taken out of the game after the double.

The Royals brought in a long reliever, and hoskins immediately hit his first (of 3) doubles today to drive in another run.

In the 2nd, the Guardians had runners on first and second with two outs, and Jose hit — well — a Jose double.

In the 5th, in the same situation, Juan Brito earned his first career RBI with this double down the line.

Brito has been fantastic so far. 2 MLB games, 2 multi-hit games, 2 XBH. So far, he’s chasing a little more than you’d like, but it’s early. But, he’s barely whiffing, and putting up really good exit velocity numbers for someone this new to MLB. He’s averaging 98+ mph on his batted balls and has been really aggressive in the zone (97th percentile zone-swing%).

Cantillo’s only earned run of the day came on a Bobby Witt double to left. The other run came on a fielding error by Kwan (although it could’ve just as easily been charged to Martinez).

It was pretty quiet until the 8th, when Brito and Hedges singled back-to-back (Hedges, by the way, has a 174 wRC+ on a .933 OPS). Rocchio worked a 3-1 count and, after an iffy 3-1 strike call, singled to right. Kwan walked to load the bases, and then Martinez smoked an oopsie slider into the seats in right-center. The Royals brought in a position player to pitch, which is always a welcome sight. For reference, the last position player to pitch against the Guardians was Luke Maile on September 8 of 2025… also for the Royals. That game also ended 10-2.

In other news, the Guardians announced today that Gabriel Arias will miss 4-8 weeks with a hamstring strain.

The Guardians have won 3 straight series against playoff contenders. They head south this weekend for a 3-game set with the Braves. It’ll be Cecconi vs. Elder on Friday night.

MLB has doled out punishments for the massive brawl between the Angels and Braves on Tuesday night. 

The Angels’ Jorge Soler and Braves’ Reynaldo López, both at the center of the on-field dust up at Angel Stadium, were suspended seven games for the incident. 

Both players are appealing their suspensions, per The Post’s Jon Heyman.

A chaotic benches-clearing fight broke out between the teams during Atlanta’s 7-2 win that even saw Soler, the Angels’ designated hitter, and López, the Braves’ starting pitcher, throw punches at each other.

With two outs in the bottom of the fifth, Soler took a pitch from López up-and-in that went to the backstop, allowing the Angels’ Nolan Schanuel to go from first to second base.

Soler appeared to take exception and López threw his arms out as the two exchanged words before the former came charging out to the mound, setting off the brouhaha. 

“I asked him if everything was OK and the answer he gave me, I didn’t like it,” Soler said through a translator, according to MLB.com. “That’s why I went out there.”

López, who sounded regretful after the game, appeared to punch Soler in the helmet and face with the baseball in his hands. 

“It’s just a shame, the situation and how things unfolded,” López said, per MLB.com. “On my part, there was never any intent to hit him at any point. So, again, it’s just a shame.”

Soler had hit a home run off López in the first inning of the game, the fifth of his career against the right-hander. 

The pair were teammates with the Braves during the second-half of the 2024 season after Soler was acquired from the Giants in a trade.

Wednesday notes…

• NOT STREAKING, YET: The Cubs and Red Sox are the only two teams that have not won at least two games in a row. The Orioles did it for the first by winning yesterday. The 28 other teams have won two or more a total of 42 times: four streaks each of five and four games, five of three games and 19 of two. Last season, the Cubs had 25 winning streaks: one of five games, four of four and 10 each of three and two. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• THE BATS FINALLY GOT GOING: The Cubs’ 16 hits last night raised their team batting average for the season by 22 points, to .221, which ranks 22nd among all teams, between the Red Sox (.223) and Diamondbacks (.213). The Dodgers lead, at .292, and six more teams are above .250, including the Rays, whose .260 is fifth best. The Angels are at .200; the Guardians, .197; and the Mariners, .191. The Reds are last among National League teams, at .204, 27th overall. The 29 other teams combined are .234. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• HITTING ’EM HARD: The Cubs remain third in MLB in hard-hit rate behind the Rangers and Dodgers.
• TODAY IN CUBS HISTORY: Derrek Lee led off the eighth inning with a home run. That broke a 2-2 tie and the Cubs held on for a 3-2 win over the Cardinals at Wrigley Field. It happened 20 years ago today, Saturday, April 8, 2006.

Cubs lineup:

Rays lineup:

Colin Rea, RHP vs. Joe Boyle, RHP

For the second year in a row, Colin Rea is being asked to step into the rotation to replace an injured starter. Last year in place of Justin Steele, Rea was really good. Over his first seven starts after taking Steele’s rotation spot, Rea posted a 2.72 ERA and 1.239 WHIP and allowed just four home runs in 36.1 innings.

Hopefully Matthew Boyd won’t be out long and Rea can go back to the long relief role he does so well. (Or Rea can stay in the rotation replacing Cade Horton.)

He made a competent start Sept. 13, 2025 vs. the Rays at Wrigley Field, allowing three runs in 5.1 innings, striking out five with no walks.

Joe Boyle came to the Rays in a trade with the A’s before the 2025 season and he spent much of the year in Triple-A before being recalled in July. He had a few decent starts and some not-so-decent and it was an unremarkable season.

This year Boyle has a 3.18 ERA and 0.882 WHIP in two starts covering 11.1 innings, with 13 strikeouts. He’s never faced the Cubs and only four Cubs have ever seen him, none for more than four at-bats, so let’s hope the Cubs have a good scouting report.

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network.

Here is the complete MLB.com live streaming page for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Rays site DRays Bay. If you do go there to interact with Rays fans, please be respectful, abide by their individual site rules and serve as a good representation of Cub fans in general and BCB in particular.

The 2026 game discussion procedure has been changed, so please take note.

You’ll find the game preview, like this one, posted separately on the front page two hours before game time (90 minutes for some early day games following night games).

At the same time, a StoryStream containing the preview will also post on the front page, titled “Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of week/date) game threads.” It will contain every post related to that particular game.

The Live! (formerly “First Pitch”) thread will still post at five minutes to game time. It will also post to the front page. That will be the only live game discussion thread. After the game, the recap and Heroes and Goats will also live on the front page as separate posts.

You will also be able to find the preview, Live! thread, recap and Heroes and Goats in this section link. The StoryStream for each game can also be found in that section.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Box Score

It ends up being just a .500 road trip for the Brewers across Kansas City and Boston as Milwaukee dropped the rubber match Wednesday afternoon against the Red Sox, 5-0.

Sonny Gray had the goods from the beginning. The Brewers were able to get some traffic on the bases against him, but could never capitalize with the big hit. Sal Frelick led off the game with a ground-rule double to right, but was left stranded quickly. Gray ended up covering 6 1/3 IP, scattering just three hits, walking two, and striking out two.

Shane Drohan made his MLB debut today and will end up being a start to forget for the 27-year-old lefty. Drohan made it through just 2 2/3 IP, allowing three hits, three runs, four walks, and a pair of strikeouts. Of the 63 pitches he threw, just 28 of them were strikes.

Grant Anderson was able to make it through 1 1/3 IP scoreless, Aaron Ashby had a scoreless inning, then Jake Woodford covered the final three innings for the Brewers bullpen and gave up a pair of runs late that allowed the Red Sox to get to that comfortable 5-0 lead.

The Brewers had just four hits on the day. With no Brice Turang and no William Contreras in the lineup, it was going to be an uphill battle for the Brewers lineup against Gray to begin with.

The Brewers now fall to 8-4 on the season after a 3-3 road trip. They’ll have a day off tomorrow before starting their next homestand against the Washington Nationals for the weekend, before the reigning AL Champion Toronto Blue Jays come to town to begin next week.

The verdict is out for Los Angeles Angels’ Jorge Soler and Atlanta Braves’ Reynald López. Per Jeff Passan, both players will be receiving a seven-game suspension following last night’s viral altercation.

It was the bottom of the fifth inning, where everything took place. López threw a pitch high and tight off the backstop, which Soler didn’t appreciate after previously being hit by a pitch in his second at-bat. Once he charged the mound after what looked to be words exchanged between him and López, hands were thrown, and though punches from both sides didn’t connect, there was footage of López using the ball he kept in his hand as his weapon of choice. It ended with a tackle from Braves manager Walt Weiss to Soler…well, until the bullpen ran out to get the last of the action…

This punishment would also include an undisclosed fine following their actions, starting today.

Keep in mind, however, that this is the initial status before the appeals are reviewed.

Hey, on the bright side…at least Weiss got away scot-free.

It was a rough start to the game today in Cleveland. Cole Ragans took the hill in the bottom of the first and started out by striking out Kwan and Martinez. It was looking like he might be dominant, which the Royals could have used going for the series win. Then Jose Ramirez singled off of Ragans, literally.

The come-backer hit Cole in his pitching hand, but he was determined to stay in. That lasted only two batters. David Fry walked on four pitched and then Chase DeLauter hit a 2-RBI double, at which point Ragans was pulled and in came Luinder Avila. Avila allowed DeLauter in, so Cole was charged with 3 runs in just 2/3 of an inning for the start. An already taxed Kansas City bullpen then had to piece together the rest of the game.

Avila did a reasonable job getting through 3 innings, but too many baserunners and too many pitches meant he only got through 3 innings and gave up another run, so the Royals ended up down four to nothing. It was not a good performance, though I am giving him bonus points for warming quickly and coming in well before he was expecting to on the day. The offense started to battle back in the 4th when Bobby Witt Jr. ended the longest stretch of his career without an extra base hit with an RBI double.

Alex Lange was next out of the pen and went 2 1/3 innings to get the team through the 6th. He gave up another run, but Starling Marte also added another run with a double that scored Lane Thomas in the 5th. The run was ruled unearned since the Kwan mishandled the ball off of the wall for an error. Joey Cantillo came one strike away from getting through 6 innings for Cleveland. He had quite a start at 5 2/3 innings, 3 hits, 2 walks, 1 ER, and 9 strike outs. For the second game in a row, the Royals had some issues with striking out. Yesterday, KC struck out 14 times and followed it up with 14 again today.

It seemed like the Royals had a chance to rally at that point as Steven Cruz came in and got through a clean 7th. Unfortunately, the 8th went about as poorly as could have for Cruz. It went single, single, RBI single, walk, grand slam, and strikeout. Five runs was enough that Tyler Tolbert came in and gave up a single then got a double play.

That was a tough end to a disappointing series that sees the Royals fall to 5-7 on the season. Up next is four games at home against a bad White Sox team. Hopefully they can use that to get back on track.