Houston Astros first baseman Yuli Gurriel made what appeared to be a slant-eye gesture mocking Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Yu Darvish after hitting a home run in Game 3 of the World Series on Friday night.
After the game, the New York Times’ Tyler Kepner and the Los Angeles Times’ Bill Shaikin tweeted that MLB plans to interview Gurriel and will consider discipline for the gesture.
I've been told MLB will interview Gurriel about the dugout gesture toward Darvish and consider discipline.
— Tyler Kepner (@TylerKepner) October 28, 2017
Commissioner Rob Manfred is expected to meet with Yuli Gurriel tomorrow. Manfred would then decide on any discipline.
— Bill Shaikin (@BillShaikin) October 28, 2017
Darvish told the media that the gesture was “disrespectful” and that he’s sure “the Astros have Asian fans too.”
Yu Darvish is aware of Yuli Gurriel’s gesture. Said it was “disrespectful.” “I’m sure the Astros have Asian fans too”
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) October 28, 2017
He also called the gesture “offensive to everybody.”
Yu Darvish on Yuli Gurriel's gesture: "It's offensive to everybody."
— Hunter Atkins (@HunterAtkins35) October 28, 2017
And reportedly told Japanense media that MLB should punish Gurriel.
In Japanese Darvish told reporters there should be some punishment for Gurriel from MLB
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) October 28, 2017
Darvish also added this classy response to the situation:
Darvish on Gurriel: “He made a mistake. He’ll learn from it. We’re all human beings.”
— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughTimes) October 28, 2017
Gurriel is expected to make a statement, and Astros manager A.J. Hinch told the media that Gurriel is “remorseful.”
Hinch said he was notified of the Gurriel incident. Said Gurriel "is remorseful" and will have a statement.
— Ryan Fagan (@ryanfagan) October 28, 2017
There’s certainly much more still to come on this story, and it will be interesting to see how MLB chooses to handle it.
UPDATE: Yu Darvish just tweeted about the situation.
— ダルビッシュ有(Yu Darvish) (@faridyu) October 28, 2017