Gurriel apologizes for racist gesture in Game 3
Houston Astros first baseman Yuli Gurriel has apologized for making a racist gesture toward Yu Darvish after taking the Japanese expat deep in the second inning of a 5-3 win Friday over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 3 of the World Series.
"I didn't want to offend him or nobody in Japan because I have a lot of respect, I played in Japan," Gurriel said through an interpreter, per Brent Zwerneman and Matt Young from the Houston Chronicle. "Japan opened my doors to the game of baseball and I didn't mean to offend them.
"I didn't think anybody would think (bad) about what I meant with all those kinds of things like that. I offer my apologies to baseball and anyone offended."
Related: Darvish says Gurriel deserves punishment for 'disrespectful' gesture
Gurriel, who tugged at the sides of his eyes and appeared to say, "Chinito" - which translates to "little Chinese boy" - in the dugout after stroking a solo shot off Darvish, spent the second half of the 2014 campaign in Japan, starring for the Yokohama BayStars of the Central League.
"I didn't try to offend nobody," Gurriel continued. "I was commenting to my family that I hadn't had any good luck against Japanese pitchers here in the United States. .... (And) In Cuba we call everyone who's from Asia 'chino.'"
Gurriel, hitting .340 in the postseason, is expected to meet Saturday with commissioner Rob Manfred, who will then decide if the 33-year-old Cuba native will be disciplined.
"I know he's remorseful," Astros manager A.J. Hinch said.