Yuli Gurriel explained why he made a slant eyes gesture after homering off Yu Darvish during Game 3 of the World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros on Friday night.
Gurriel answered questions after the Astros’ 5-3 win and spoke through a translator. He said he didn’t want to offend anybody.
Gurriel: I didn’t want to offend anybody in Japan. I have a lot of respect for Japan. I played in Japan.
— Brent Zwerneman (@BrentZwerneman) October 28, 2017
Gurriel also said that he did the gesture as he was demonstrating his lack of success against Japanese pitchers.
“I didn’t try to offend nobody. I was commenting to my family that I hadn’t had any good luck against Japanese pitchers here in the United States.”
Here’s video of his comments:
#Astros' Gurriel says he didn't mean to offend w/gesture directed at the #Dodgers' Darvish. "I have a lot of respect … I played in Japan." pic.twitter.com/ndxW1UtSdp
— Texas Sports Nation (@ChronTXSN) October 28, 2017
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred intends to speak with Gurriel on Saturday.
Commissioner Rob Manfred plans to speak with Yuli Gurriel tomorrow.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) October 28, 2017
The league could discipline Gurriel for his actions.
Based on his words, that’s the gesture Gurriel uses to describe Asian people, which is offensive and inappropriate. Darvish called the actions “disrespectful.”
Here’s video of Gurriel’s actions.
Gurriel mocking Darvish?? pic.twitter.com/DsHz12HT3O
— You (@CoIIier) October 28, 2017
