BALTIMORE, MARYLAND - AUGUST 29: Kevin Kiermaier #39 of the Tampa Bay Rays leads off first base during a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on August 29, 2021 in Baltimore, Maryland.

Kiermaier took Jays' scouting report Monday, Rays refused to return card

5 years ago

Mitchell Layton / Getty Images Sport / Getty

The temperature in this week's Toronto Blue Jays-Tampa Bay Rays series may have just been turned up a notch.

The Blue Jays are fuming after Rays outfielder Kevin Kiermaier picked up a card containing their scouting reports for Tampa Bay hitters during the series' opening game Monday, according to Sportsnet's Shi Davidi and Arash Madani.

Cameras caught Kiermaier taking the card out of the dirt after being tagged out at home by Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk in the sixth inning. The card fell out of Kirk's wristband while he tagged Kiermaier.

The Blue Jays are not happy.

Last night in the 6th, Kevin Kiermaier slid into home plate and grabbed a card (video here). That card, I'm told, was from Alejandro Kirk's wrist band that fell out on the tag.

On the card: the Blue Jays' game plan on pitching to Rays' hitters. pic.twitter.com/wjjuYd3Bhk
— Arash Madani (@ArashMadani) September 21, 2021

Tampa Bay rebuffed the Blue Jays' in-game request to return the card, Madani and Davidi report.

Kiermaier was later seen giving the card to the Rays' major-league field coordinator, Paul Hoover, though the center fielder was adamant he didn't look at the card himself.

"The play happened so fast, honestly," Kiermaier told Madani. "I picked it up, didn't know what it was, whether (it) was mine or not. ... I never even looked at it, I'll say that. But at the same time, I'm not going to drop it or hand it back."

Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo spoke to his Rays counterpart, Kevin Cash, about the issue before Tuesday's game. Montoyo - a former Rays coach - later revealed that Cash apologized to him, as well as to Blue Jays pitching coach Pete Walker and general manager Ross Atkins.

#BlueJays manager Charlie Montoyo said Kevin Cash apologized to him, Pete Walker and Ross Atkins for the incident where Kevin Kiermaier took the play card. Montoyo said Cash is his friend and it’s “agua under the bridge.”
— Kaitlyn McGrath (@kaitlyncmcgrath) September 22, 2021

The Blue Jays and Rays have two games left in their series. The AL East rivals met in the playoffs last year, and there's a chance they could match up again next month should Toronto reach the division series as a wild card.