Houston Astros slugger Yuli Gurriel apologized for what appeared to be a racist gesture and remark about Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Yu Darvish during Friday’s World Series game.
The Cuban smashed a solo home run off the Japanese pitcher to spark a four-run second inning that powered Houston to a 5-3 victory and a 2-1 lead in Major League Baseball’s best-of-seven championship final.
During the game, television cameras showed Gurriel putting his fingers to the outer edges of his eyes and pulling the skin wider. There was also concern he had uttered the word chinito, or “little Chinese.”
Photo: AFP
“Acting like that was just disrespectful to people all over the world,” Darvish said through a translator when told of the move. “I feel like the Astros have Asian fans too.”
After the game, Gurriel — who played for Japan’s Yokohama BayStars in 2014 — said through a translator that he meant no offensive gesture or remark.
“I didn’t want to offend anybody in Japan. I have a lot of respect for Japan. I never intended to make an offensive gesture,” Gurriel said. “I was commenting to my teammates that I haven’t had much luck against Darvish.”
“If he was offended, I ask for his forgiveness. That wasn’t my intention,” he said.
As for his remark, Gurriel said: “In Cuba we call everybody who is from Asia chinito.”
Houston’s four-run outburst chased Darvish off the mound after one 2/3 innings — the shortest start of Darvish’s career in possibly the biggest game of his life.
However, after the contest, Darvish’s poor outing was less of a concern than Gurriel’s actions. And while Darvish did not utter the word forgiveness, it was the spirit he showed to the man who seemingly added insult to victory.
“He made a mistake,” Darvish said. “He’ll learn from it. We’re all human beings.”
Well after the game, Darvish released a statement in English on his Twitter account that expressed his desire for people to learn from Gurriel’s actions.
“No one is perfect. That includes both you and I. What he had done today isn’t right, but I believe we should put our effort into learning rather than to accuse him,” Darvish wrote.
“If we can take something from this, that is a giant step for mankind. Since we are living in such a wonderful world, let’s stay positive and move forward instead of focusing on anger,” he wrote. “I’m counting on everyone’s big love.”
Astros manager A.J. Hinch said that Gurriel was “remorseful” about his actions.
“I am aware of it,” Hinch said. “I know he’s remorseful, but other than that, I don’t know a lot.”
Badminton world No. 3 Anders Antonsen clinched his first Indonesia Open title yesterday after beating Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen, while South Korea’s An Se-young won her second championship in Jakarta. The 28-year-old Dane sank world No. 7 Chou at the Indonesian capital’s Istora Senayan arena, winning 22-20, 21-14 in a 60-minute match to secure the prestigious Super 1000 event. Antonsen came out on top in a tightly contested first game before cruising to victory in the second. In a more closely fought women’s singles final, South Korean ace and world No. 1 An fought back from one game down to beat China’s
Italy crashed to a 3-0 loss away to Norway, as the four-time FIFA World Cup champions made a disastrous start to their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign on Friday, while Belgium had to settle for a draw in North Macedonia. Alexander Sorloth, Antonio Nusa and Erling Haaland all scored in the first half in pouring rain in Oslo as Norway made it a night to forget for Italy, who missed out on the past two World Cups. “I have no explanation. Our supporters don’t deserve this kind of match. We need to do some soul-searching. It’s unacceptable,” Italy captain and goalkeeper Gianluigi
‘STILL’: In front of a packed New Jersey arena attended by Donald Trump and Mike Tyson, UFC 316 delivered high drama as Merab Dvalishvili retained his title Georgia’s Merab Dvalishvili scored a second-round submission win over Sean O’Malley to retain his bantamweight title at Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 316 on Saturday, with Kayla Harrison also winning by submission in the co-main event, tapping out Juliana Pena to claim the women’s bantamweight crown. In front of a packed crowd at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, which included US President Donald Trump and retired heavyweight great Mike Tyson, Dvalishvili, a 34-year-old from the country of Georgia, won the belt in a convincing, although not aesthetically pleasing, unanimous decision. Dvalishvili (19-4) sat on top of the cage and shouted
Manchester City on Monday completed the signing of left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri from Wolverhampton Wanderers for a reported ￡31 million (US$41.8 million). The 24-year-old Algeria international has signed a five-year contract and will be available for the FIFA Club World Cup, which begins later this week. Ait-Nouri is expected to be just one of a trio of new City faces for that tournament with deals close to completion for AC Milan midfielder Tijjani Reijnders and Olympique Lyonnais playmaker Rayan Cherki. After missing out on a major trophy in the recently completed season for the first time since 2016-2017, City are hoping
RSS