WASHINGTON -- Things are going so well for Josh Donaldson that he will not serve the one-game suspension that was levied just before he began his current hot streak.

Major League Baseball has dropped Donaldson's one-game suspension and reduced the fine that was levied to the Braves third baseman in response to Donaldson being one of the instigators of the benches-clearing incident that the Braves and Pirates experienced on June 10 at SunTrust Park.

Donaldson issued an appeal and had his case heard earlier this week. He felt that he had a strong argument for the actions he took during the incident, when his jersey was hit by a Joe Musgrove pitch. The first-inning incident that ensued was a result of Musgrove and Donaldson both not liking the way the other reacted.

Donaldson’s shove of Pirates catcher Elias Diaz was the only aggressive physical action seen during what amounted to a verbal altercation. Musgrove, Donaldson and Pirates manger Clint Hurdle were ejected.

“Ultimately, it wasn’t a good situation for any of us,” Donaldson said. “It’s something you try to avoid. But at the end of the day, it happened. That’s why we have the appeal process. In the grand scheme of things, we kept winning and that’s what was important. I started to play better since then for some reason. So, at the end of the day, it worked out.”

The Braves entered Saturday having won 11 of their past 14 games, and Donaldson entered having hit .405 (17-for-42) with six homers and a 1.349 OPS since the incident.

All-Star support: Braves manager Brian Snitker was thrilled to learn that his team had an MLB-high seven players advance to the Starters Election round of this year’s All-Star balloting.

“It’s awesome,” Snitker said. “It’s really neat to see how Braves Country has supported the guys. Hopefully, a majority of them can go. It’s really neat. It’s going to be like that for a while. We have some young talented guys.”

Each of the Braves’ infielders -- Donaldson, Freddie Freeman, Ozzie Albies, Dansby Swanson -- two of their outfielders, Ronald Acuña Jr. and Nick Markakis, and catcher Brian McCann each received enough support in the Primary ballot phase to advance to the Starters Election round.

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These are all of the finalists for the Starters Election, which begins Wednesday at noon ET and runs through Thursday at 4 p.m. The winners will be unveiled on ESPN that night starting at 7 ET. Players who do not get elected starters are not automatically added to the team as reserves -- they will be determined through a combination of “Player Ballot” choices and selections made by the Commissioner’s Office. All-Star pitchers and reserves will be announced on Sunday, June 30, at 5:30 p.m., also on ESPN.

Newcomb nearing return: Sean Newcomb was scheduled to begin what could be a very brief rehab stint with Triple-A Gwinnett on Saturday night. If Newcomb has no problems recovering from the multi-inning relief outing, he will likely rejoin Atlanta’s bullpen on Tuesday, which is when he’s eligible to be activated from the 7-day concussion injured list.

“We just want to make sure he is OK,” Snitker said. “I think he will be.”

Newcomb was hit in the back of the head by J.T. Realmuto’s 102-mph line drive on June 15. The left-hander passed initial tests, but he briefly showed some concussion symptoms after working out on Tuesday. The Braves took the cautious route by placing him on the injured list. But Newcomb improved enough by Wednesday to be cleared to immediately resume normal baseball preparations.