5 ejected after Royals, White Sox brawl

Apr 24, 2015 - 2:45 AM Chicago, IL (SportsNetwork.com) - Starting pitchers Yordano Ventura and Chris Sale were among five players ejected following a benches-clearing brawl at the conclusion of the seventh inning of Thursday's game between the Kansas City Royals and Chicago White Sox.

The incident was ignited when Ventura snared a comebacker from Chicago's Adam Eaton and yelled an expletive at the White Sox outfielder before tossing the ball to first base. Both teams immediately emptied their benches, with a few punches being thrown prior to order being eventually restored after several minutes.

Royals center fielder Lorenzo Cain and pitcher Edinson Volquez and Chicago hurler Jeff Samardzija also were ejected for their parts in the melee.

Ventura had hit Jose Abreu with a pitch back in the fourth inning, with Sale plunking Mike Moustakas a frame later to trigger a warning to both teams.

Abreu doubled off Ventura in his next at-bat to tie the game at 2-2 in the fifth.

Ventura has now been ejected in each of his last two starts. The fiery young right-hander was tossed after hitting Oakland's Brett Lawrie with a pitch in Saturday's game against the Athletics. Ventura was fined by Major League Baseball for the incident, with teammate Kelvim Herrera suspended five games for later throwing at Lawrie.

Herrera has since appealed the penalty and took over for Ventura in the eighth inning.