Report: Rays' Joel Peralta suspended eight games following pine-tar incident

Rays reliever Joel Peralta was suspended eight games on Thursday following an incident on June 19 in which he was found with pine-tar on his glove. (Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)

Tampa Bay Rays reliever Joel Peralta will reportedly receive an eight-game suspension from Major League Baseball for using pine-tar on his glove during a June 19 game against the Washington Nationals, according to a report from Mark Topkin of TheTampa Bay Times:

Tampa Bay Rays reliever Joel Peralta was suspended eight games by MLB after being caught with pine tar in his glove on Tuesday. Peralta will appeal his suspension and thus will remain active until an appeal is heard.

Peralta, who was ejected from the game, played in the following game because a decision had not been announced by the league.

The league states that a 10-game suspension is standard for this kind of incident and it's unclear why it was lenient with Peralta. Topkin said that the Rays expressed concern for the team moving forward in Peralta's absence.

“It’s going to have a great impact on us,’’ Rays manager Joe Maddon said.

According to the report, Nationals manager Davey Johnson said prior to the announcement that perhaps the league will consider the game in which Peralta was ejected before deciding on a punishment. He said an ejection from the game was enough and that a 10-game suspension would be "way too severe."

Johnson said he acted on inside information about Peralta from his days with the Nationals and asked the umpires to check his glove:

Crew chief Tim Tschida said they found "a significant amount of pine tar" inside Peralta's glove "where the hand goes inside." The glove was shipped to MLB officials in New York on Wednesday for evaluation.

Rays executive vice president Andrew Friedman hoped that the league would take into consideration a situation with Peralta that is not so "cut and dry" and he said he expected a suspension of less than 10 games, according to Topkin.