SAN DIEGO — Padres closer Robert Suarez will drop his appeal after his suspension for hitting Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani was reduced to two games, league sources told The Athletic.

Suarez received a three-game suspension and an undisclosed fine from Major League Baseball on Friday. The previous night, Suarez was immediately ejected after hitting Ohtani in the right shoulder blade in a game that had already seen a benches-clearing kerfuffle and the Dodgers’ third plunking of Padres right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. in a span of 10 days.

MLB, in announcing the suspension, described Suarez’s 99.8 mph fastball as intentional. Suarez disputed that characterization and opted to appeal his suspension.

“I was just coming in to close out that game,” Suarez said through interpreter Pedro Gutiérrez on Friday. “I was never trying to run into trouble or hit anybody. Unfortunately, it happened, I got ejected and I couldn’t finish out the game.”



Suarez remained available to pitch for the Padres in Tuesday’s game against the Washington Nationals. He could begin serving his suspension on Wednesday. The Padres, who are off Thursday, will be limited to carrying 25 players during Suarez’s two-game ban.

Padres manager Mike Shildt supported Suarez on Friday, calling the plunking of Ohtani unintentional. Amid a tense environment — both benches and bullpens had cleared when Shildt confronted Dodgers manager Dave Roberts after Tatis took a 93 mph fastball to his right wrist — Ohtani reacted to being hit on Thursday by waving off his teammates as he walked to first base, seemingly preventing a potential brawl. Ohtani was also hit by a Padres pitcher on Tuesday; a half-inning after Tatis took a fastball in the back, Randy Vásquez plunked Ohtani in the right thigh.

Suarez was replaced by Yuki Matsui, who went on to record his first major-league save in a 5-3 win for the Padres.

“I do trust the league office being judicious, but we are taking exception with the three games, the volume of the games and actually (the suspension), period,” Shildt said.

“There’s a strong appeal to lessen it. I don’t think it’s going to go away, unfortunately, but at a minimum, lessen the games.”

— The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal contributed to this report.

(Photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea / Imagn Images)