TORONTO -- Major League Baseball suspended Toronto pitcher Aaron Sanchez for three games and manager John Gibbons for one game Tuesday as part of the fallout of a testy game between the Blue Jays and the Kansas City Royals.

MLB also fined Sanchez an undisclosed amount for intentionally throwing a pitch at Alcides Escobar with warnings in place during the top of the eighth inning of Toronto's 5-2 win Sunday. Sanchez denied intentionally hitting Escobar, arguing his pitch just got away.

Sanchez said he won't speak on the suspension until after his appeal was heard by MLB.

"Hopefully they'll chip that down a little bit," said Gibbons about Sanchez's punishment. "But I think that's kind of automatic too after warnings when you get ejected for hitting a guy."

Gibbons was suspended for returning to the field following an ejection. He was set to miss Tuesday night's home game against Minnesota.

Although he was allowed to set the lineup and address media before the game, Gibbons had to leave the clubhouse area before the opening pitch and was unsure of where in the stadium he'd watch the game against the Twins.

"I didn't know for sure if (the suspension) was going to happen but that's the rules, that's the law," said Gibbons in his office at Rogers Centre. "Really though the coaches don't go out there to throw punches. You usually just go out there to make peace. But that's the rule."

Sanchez may play while his appeal is heard. Gibbons said the right-handed pitcher was consulting with his agent and Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos about the appeal.

Gibbons added that the team didn't yet know the details of Sanchez's appeal process.

An already heated game spun out of control when the benches cleared after Escobar was hit by Sanchez. Among those running onto the Rogers Centre field was Gibbons, who had already been ejected in the seventh inning.

Sanchez was immediately ejected from the game by umpire Jim Wolf, who had put a warning in place in the first inning when Royals starter Edison Volquez hit Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson.

"If I wanted to send a message I would've sent a message to their big guys," Sanchez said after Sunday's game. "I think it was kind of crap, but we'll move on. We got a 'W."'

The Blue Jays were critical of Wolf's handling of the game. After issuing the warning in the first, the Jays were upset when reliever Ryan Madson wasn't tossed for hitting shortstop Troy Tulowitzki in the forearm in the seventh inning.

Donaldson lost his cool when he got buzzed in the next at-bat, which led to Gibbons getting ejected by Wolf.

"I have a lot of respect for him behind the plate; I don't think he made a lot of the right decisions today," Donaldson said of Wolf after the game. "That's what you end up getting out of it, games like that, you get bench-clearing, when it never even had to go that route."