Watch: Melee breaks out between Athletics, Astros

Tensions heightened between the Oakland Athletics and Houston Astros on Sunday after A's outfielder Ramon Laureano was hit by a pitch from Humberto Castellanos.

After Laureano walked up the first-base line while exchanging words briefly with Castellanos and Astros catcher Martin Maldonado, Houston hitting coach Alex Cintron seemed to yell at Laureano from the dugout. Laureano then stormed Cintron before getting tackled by Dustin Garneau, resulting in a benches-clearing brawl.

Laureano was plunked by Brandon Bailey in his previous at-bat during the fifth inning.

The Dominican was ejected for his part in the fracas, and Chad Pinder replaced him on basepath.

"Ramon doesn't go over there unless something completely offensive came out of that dugout," A's manager Bob Melvin said postgame, according to Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle. "That person should get suspended."

Kansas City Royals reliever Trevor Rosenthal weighed in on Twitter afterward:

Prior to the shortened season, Major League Baseball added additional rules about fighting as the league prepared to play during the pandemic. "Violations of these rules will result in severe discipline consistent with past precedent, which discipline shall not be reduced or prorated based on the length of the season," the league states in its operations manual, according to Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle.

Los Angeles Dodgers reliever Joe Kelly was given an eight-game suspension for throwing at Astros hitters earlier this campaign.