Yuli Gurriel’s disrespectful gesture in Game 3 on Friday will not cost the Houston Astros first baseman any time in the World Series.
Gurriel launched a solo home run off Los Angeles Dodgers starter Yu Darvish in the second inning at Minute Maid Park and followed it with an apparent racist gesture toward the right-hander in the dugout.
Major League Baseball commission Rob Manfred announced Saturday that Guriel will not be suspended for any of the remaining World Series games. Instead, the power-hitting lefty will serve a five-game suspension to start the 2018 season.
Darvish took the high road following Gurriel’s actions. In a thoughtful postgame tweet, Darvish labeled Gurriel’s gesture as “disrespectful,” but suggested we view the incident as a teaching moment, rather than dwell on the negativity.
Gurriel insisted the gesture was not done in disrespect of Darvish, rather a means of expressing his lack of success against the 31-year-old.
“Yesterday I was commenting that I’d never had any success against Darvish, and the gesture was saying that I wish he would look at me like one of them (Japanese players) and maybe he’d throw me an easy pitch so I can do something,” Gurriel said, per USA TODAY Sports. “At no point did I mean that in an offensive way. On the contrary, I’ve always had a lot of respect for them.”
The Dodgers and Astros will battle in Game 4 on Saturday night. First pitch from Minute Maid Park is set for 8:20 p.m. ET.
Thumbnail photo via Gary A. Vasquez/USA TODAY Sports Images
