Joe Kelly suspended six games, Tyler Austin five in aftermath of Sox-Yanks brawl

Taking swift action, Major League Baseball suspended Red Sox reliever Joe Kelly for six games and Yankees infielder/outfielder Tyler Austin for five games for their role in the bench-clearing brawl that took place in the seventh inning of Wednesday's game.

Both players have appealed their suspensions and will continue to be eligible to play until their hearings are heard and a decision on those appeals have been made. Both players were also fined, as were Red Sox manager Alex Cora and Yankee third base coach Phil Nevin.

Four others -- CC Sabathia, Marco Hernandez, Dustin Pedroia and Xander Bogaerts -- were also fined for leaving the dugout while being on the DL.

BSJ Analysis:

The release noted that Kelly was suspended for ''intentionally hitting Austin with a pitch and fighting,'' while Austin was nabbed for "charging the mound and fighting.''

Ordinarily, under these circumstances, pitchers are given stiffer penalties because they don't participate in every game the way position players can or do.

The Red Sox may take issue with the disparity between the two, however, since it was Austin's questionable slide into shortstop Brock Holt in the third inning which touched off the dispute. But because the umpires didn't rule Austin automatically out for an illegal slide and the nature of that falls into a somewhat gray area, MLB didn't impose additional penalties on him.

In all likelihood, the Sox will try to game the system -- as teams do -- and perhaps have Kelly appear in two straight games, then convince him to drop the appeal, since he would probably need two or three days recovery time following such a workload.

Both teams will be able to replace the players on their respective rosters if-and-when the suspensions are upheld. Often, MLB takes a game or so off the original penalty, but cynics have contended that such an adjustment is built into the original penalties.