Twins’ Torii Hunter Tosses Batting Gear After Ejection

In another classic MLB ejection, Twins’ outfielder Torii Hunter stripped off his batting gear and tossed them on the field.

Torii Hunter Tosses Batting Gear After Ejection

During the eighth inning, the Minnesota Twins were down 7-2 to the Kansas City Royals with Torii Hunter up at bat. The 39-year-old outfielder is known for getting emotional and when umpire Mark Ripperger called a close strike three, Hunter went off and started to berate him, which led to his ejection.

Soon after, Twins’ Paul Molitor was ejected for arguing on the behalf of Hunter. And that is when the outfielder truly went off, as both an umpire and Molitor had to restrain Torii, who was yelling and pointing in Ripperger’s face.

But when the two were separated, Hunter was not finished with his tirade. In frustration, he took off his elbow and shin pads, gloves and jersey to throw them on the field. The Minnesota crowd, which was already going crazy, went absolutely nuts for this.

“We have bad days — all of us — as hitters, pitchers,” Hunter told the press after the game. “Even umpires have bad days, and he had one.”

When asked to elaborate on the incident, he stated, “I thought it was a ball. The pitch before that, I thought it was a little up. He called it a strike, that’s fine. I thought the last pitch he called a strike was revenge because I said something about the pitch before that, because it was definitely a ball.”

Now, Hunter made contact with one of the umps during the incident, which could lead to a suspension or fine. At the same time, many begin to wonder was this over frustration — Hunter was zero for three on the day — or to rally the troops: especially since this was the first sweep of the Twins at home. To be honest, it is probably a bit of both. The club has been in a dry spell, going 3-7 in their last ten games.

Lets just hope for the Twins sake that he is not suspended for too long, as Hunter is currently hitting .268 with 36 RBIs and eight home runs. As for Minnesota, they are two games behind the first place Kansas City Royals in the AL Central.

Article by Anthony Falco