Twins' Donaldson claps back at Giolito: He 'probably cheated'
Minnesota Twins third baseman Josh Donaldson isn't afraid to mix it up when someone calls him out, and it didn't take long for him to respond after Chicago White Sox right-hander Lucas Giolito called him "classless" for his behavior during Tuesday's game.
"If we're going to talk about class, what side are you going to choose?" Donaldson said Wednesday, according to Vinnie Duber of NBC Sports Chicago. "Are you going to take the side of somebody who's playing the game fair? Or are you going to take the side of someone who probably cheated?"
Donaldson slugged a home run off Giolito in the opening frame of Tuesday's game and was heard yelling that the baseballs were no longer sticky in reference to MLB's recent crackdown on foreign substances.
"He calls me classless," Donaldson said, according to Do-Hyong Park of MLB.com. "I didn't think that I was showing him up during the game. I was talking to my bench. I didn't pimp a home run. I wasn't talking to him."
Donaldson said he later spoke with the hurler in the parking lot.
"He didn't have much to say," Donaldson said, according to Slavko Bekovic of NBC Sports Chicago. "He said he thought it was annoying. ... (I said) 'I'm in your face, I'm telling you what I think. What do you got to say about that?' And he didn't have any response."
The veteran third baseman's attention then turned to former White Sox infielder and manager Ozzie Guillen, who suggested he'd have someone throw at Donaldson for his actions.
"And I got Ozzie Guillen talking shit on the air saying that, 'I'd let one go, hit him under the ribs.' Ozzie Guillen, you were under a career .700 OPS hitter, man," Donaldson said, according to Dan Hayes of The Athletic. "You were a three-time All-Star and you had an under .700 OPS. My worst season in the big leagues is 150 points higher than that.
"This is also coming from the man that said he loves Fidel Castro. That's who we're taking advice from? What are we doing around here?"
The teams play again Wednesday night at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago. Donaldson is slated to bat second with right-hander Dylan Cease taking the mound for the White Sox.