Baseball star suspended for 211 games

NEW YORK — Alex Rodriguez was suspended to the end of the 2014 season and three other All-Stars were also handed bans as 13 players were punished by Major League Baseball on Monday for their role in a doping scandal which has rocked the sport.

Rodriguez, the game’s highest-paid player and a three-time league MVP, remained defiant and appealed the decision, allowing him to play for the New York Yankees for the first time this season on Monday as he makes his comeback from a long-term hip injury.

Nelson Cruz, Jhonny Peralta and Everth Cabrera were the All-Stars given 50 game bans for their relationship to Biogenesis of America, a Florida anti-aging clinic accused of distributing banned performance-enhancing drugs.

Rodriguez confirmed he will appeal his suspension, which covers 211 games, by Thursday’s deadline. And since the arbitrator isn’t expected to rule until November or December at the earliest, Rodriguez will likely be able to play the rest of this year.

He received a hostile reception from Chicago fans in Monday’s game against the White Sox, being relentlessly booed and jeered, while being subject to chants of “Steroids! Steroids!”

He had one hit in four at-bats as the struggling Yankees lost 8-1. /ap