Giants Pitcher George Kontos Gets Demoted, Suspended on Birthday After Beaning Andrew McCutchen

The Dodgers and Diamondbacks weren’t the only National League West teams to dish out some chin music Wednesday night.

Giants reliever George Kontos drilled Pittsburgh’s Andrew McCutchen after teammate Marco Scutaro was beaned earlier in the game, and that pitch resulted in Kontos having a rather miserable birthday.

Kontos, who turned 28 on Wednesday, was not only demoted to Triple-A Fresno for the first time this season, he was also informed the league had suspended him for three games for his incident with the Pirates outfielder. The suspension complicates a potential return to the big leagues for the right-hander, as he will only be able to serve it while he is on a major league roster.

Home-plate umpire Wally Bell ejected both Kontos and Giants manager Bruce Bochy after Kontos’ eighth-inning pitch caught McCutchen on the hip. Bochy also received a one-game suspension, which he will serve Wednesday. The beanball appeared to be retribution for a hit-by-pitch that knocked Scutaro out of the game the inning prior, though Kontos denied hitting McCutchen intentionally.

The ejection closed out a rough outing for Kontos, who allowed three runs on four hits, two walks and a home run over just 1 1/3 innings in what turned out to be an 8-2 Pirates win.

See the pitch that led to Kontos’ unfortunate birthday present by clicking here.