Astros' Gurriel avoids World Series suspension, will be suspended 5 games in 2018
HOUSTON -- Yuli Gurriel has avoided a suspension during the World Series for an inappropriate gesture during Game 3 of the World Series. He will be suspended the first five games of next season without pay.
Gurriel has agreed to undergo sensitivity training. The Houston Astros will donate Gurriel's missed salary to charitable causes.
The Astros released the following statement:
Gurriel started a huge second inning for the Houston Astros launching a solo home run to left field off Dodgers starting pitcher Yu Darvish.
But much of the talk on social media after Game 3 of the World Series was about a gesture he made a short time after that some say was racist.
Gurriel appeared to slant his eyes in an apparent reference to Darvish's Asian heritage.
After the game, Gurriel said he didn't know the gesture was offensive.
"I didn't mean to offend anybody," Gurriel said through his translator. "In Cuba, we call everybody who is from Asia, Chino. We don't call them Japanese or Chinese. We call them Chino."
Astros manager A.J. Hinch said he was made aware of the gesture.
"I know he's remorseful," Hinch added.
Darvish responded to the gesture.
"Houston has Asian fans and Japanese fans," Darvish noted through a translator after the game. "Acting like that is just disrespectful to people around the world."
He then called for Gurriel to learn from the mistake.
"Nobody's perfect. Everybody's different. We're just going to have to learn from it. He made a mistake. We're just going to learn from it. We are all human beings. Just learn from it and we have to move forward."
