The Houston Astros defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-3, in Game 3 of the World Series on Friday night, but it was a racial gesture made by one of the players that overshadowed the celebration at Minute Maid Park.
Gurriel put the Astros on the board when he hit a home run off Japanese right-hander Yu Darvish to start the second inning. After his home run trot around the bases, Gurriel returned to the dugout and appeared to make a racial gesture while mocking the Dodgers' pitcher.
Fox cameras caught Gurriel sitting on the bench and using his fingers to pull the sides of his eyes while appearing to say the word, "Chinito," a commonly used slang term in Spanish which literally translates to "little Chinese boy," and is commonly used in Cuba to refer to Asian people.
Gurriel said he knows the term is disrespectful and that it would offend Japanese people because of his time in the Japanese baseball league in 2014.
"In the moment, I didn't want to offend him or nobody in Japan because I have a lot of respect for them and I played in Japan," he said, adding that, "I didn't mean to do it."
After the game, Darvish was angry about the gesture.
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"It's disrespectful," said Darvish of the gesture, adding that he believes MLB should discipline Gurriel. "He made a mistake. He'll learn from it. We're all human beings."
Gurriel, who is Cuban, is no stranger to Japan and Japanese culture, as he played baseball in the country in 2014. After the game, Gurriel apologized, but added he didn't even know he had made the gesture until he was told by teammates later in the game.
"I didn't try to offend nobody," Gurriel said in Spanish through a translator. "I was commenting to my family that I didn't have any luck against Japanese pitchers here in the United States."
"I apoloize. I meant no disrespect," he continued. "I didn't even realize I did it until someone pointed it out. I meant no disrespect."
During his postgame press conference after the game, Astros' manager A.J. Hinch said that Gurriel is "remorseful," and expects his first baseman to release a statement.
Gurriel's home run was his 17th hit of the postseason, the most by a Cuban-born player in a single postseason in MLB history.
It's unfortunate, that in what should have been a night of celebration for the 33-year-old first baseman, is instead clouded by an insensitive gesture that just so happened to be caught on camera.
After the game, Commissioner of Major League Baseball, Rob Manfred, said that the league intends to speak to Gurriel before Game 4 on Saturday in Houston.
