NEW YORK — Red Sox pitcher Matt Barnes has been suspended four games and fined for throwing a fastball past the head of Baltimore star Manny Machado.

The commissioner’s office issued the penalty Monday. The Red Sox are off and Barnes is appealing, meaning the reliever can continue to pitch until the process is done.

Barnes was ejected Sunday after sailing a fastball past Machado’s helmet at Baltimore. The right-hander is 2-0 with a 3.60 ERA in nine games this season.

On Friday night at Camden Yards, Machado made a late slide that injured Boston second baseman Dustin Pedroia.

On Sunday, Machado batted in the sixth inning and dodged out of the way when Boston starter Eduardo Rodriguez threw three pitches down and in around the knees. Machado came up again in the eighth and Barnes’ fastball whizzed behind his helmet.

The Orioles and Red Sox play again next Monday at Fenway Park.

SALARIES: The Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees are cutting payroll and their luxury tax bills – just as Bryce Harper, Manny Machado and perhaps Clayton Kershaw near the free-agent market after the 2018 season.

The Dodgers are on track to slice their tax bill by about a quarter this year and the Yankees by two-thirds. The San Francisco Giants also are set to slice their payment in the first season of baseball’s new collective bargaining agreement, but the Detroit Tigers are slated to pay more despite saying they want to reduce payroll.

If a team doesn’t pay tax in 2018, its tax rate would drop to 20 percent in 2019 – allowing perennially high-spending clubs to sign stars at a lower cost.

“What the market produces is what the market’s going to produce,” baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said.

The Dodgers are forecast to pay a $25.1 million competitive balance tax this year, according to opening-day calculations by the commissioner’s office obtained by The Associated Press, down from $43.6 million in 2015 and $31.8 million last year. The Yankees’ bill is slated to be just under $9 million, their lowest since the tax began in 2003 and less than one-third of the $27.4 million they owed last season.

“The new CBA has had no influence on my belief that you don’t need a 200-plus million dollar payroll to win championships,” Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner said in an email to the AP.

The tax threshold increased from $189 million to $195 million under the new labor contract, and rates were simplified to three levels: 20 percent for first-time payers, 30 percent for those owing for a second straight season and 50 percent for clubs paying three times in a row or more.

MINOR LEAGUES: Former All-Star pitcher Steve Delabar, a veteran of six major league seasons with Seattle, Toronto and Cincinnati, has been suspended for 80 games following a positive test under baseball’s minor league drug program.

Also, Seattle pitcher Jonathan Aro was suspended 50 games for an unspecified violation. The 26-year-old righty made his major league with Boston in 2015, appearing in six games, and pitched once for Seattle last season. He was sent outright to Triple-A Tacoma before spring training. Aro pitched for the Portland Sea Dogs in 2015.

TWINS: Miguel Sano was suspended for one game and fined by Major League Baseball for what the sport termed “aggressive actions” that caused benches to clear during a game against Detroit last weekend.