Marlon Byrd PED suspension puts MLB’s drug testing in the spotlight

ARLINGTON, Texas — Steve Cishek wasn’t angry like some of the other pitchers around baseball. He’d only faced Marlon Byrd five times in his career, and in the first three at-bats, Byrd got three hits and drove in two runs.

“I couldn’t get him out when I was with the Marlins,” Cishek said. “When I was with the Cardinals last year, I finally got him out. We always joke about a guy that is our nemesis and he was right up there.”

So when Byrd tested positive for the growth hormone Ipamorelin and received a 162-game suspension for his second positive test, Cishek didn’t rail on about wanting those hits back or the outcomes changed.

“It doesn’t make me mad that he got a hit off me,” he said. “It…