López will immediately begin serving the league-issued two-game ban for “intentionally throwing at Andrew McCutchen” earlier this week. The 32-year-old righty will miss the rest of Washington’s weekend series against the Rockies, but will be eligible to return on Monday.

With the Nationals down 2-0 in the seventh, Lopez hit Pirates left fielder Bryan Reynolds with a pitch and then threw a fastball over Andrew McCutchen’s head three pitches later. Pittsburgh manager Derek Shelton complained, and both teams cleared the dugout and yelled at each other a little bit. No warnings were issued by the umpires, and Martinez was not ejected from the game, so the suspension is a bit of a surprise here.

López warmed up Thursday, but he sat back down because he didn’t feel well. With the Nationals having lost two close games, López certainly would have pitched at least once by now had he been feeling up to it.

Lopez hasn’t pitched since March 10th and now we know why. The 32-year-old is scheduled to throw a light bullpen today and could pitch in a spring training game and be ready for Opening Day if the bullpen session goes well.