Shelley Duncan and Melky Cabrera of the New York Yankees were each suspended three games and Tampa Bay's Jonny Gomes was slapped with a two-game ban for their roles in Wednesday's benches-clearing incident in St. Petersburg.

The suspensions, according to Major League Baseball, will start on Opening Day, March 31, unless appealed. All three players were also fined, as were Yankees manager Joe Girardi, and New York coaches Kevin Long and Bobby Meacham.

Duncan incited the fracas with a hard slide into Tampa Bay's Akinori Iwamura in the second inning of the contest. MLB vice president Bob Watson, in announcing the suspensions, called Duncan's play -- a high slide with his spikes up -- "violent and reckless."

Gomes came rushing in from right field and drilled Duncan in the back, helping escalate the hostilities. Cabrera was given his suspension for violent and aggressive actions during the incident.

The bad blood between the teams actually started a few days earlier when Tampa Bay's Elliot Johnson barreled into Yankees catcher Francisco Cervelli on a play at the plate. Cervelli suffered a broken wrist and the Yankees were upset, believing the hard-nosed play was unnecessary in a spring training game.