Bad blood from a four-game weekend series between the Kansas City Royals and Toronto Blue Jays spilled over on Twitter, spreading well into the work week.
After Toronto defeated Kansas City, 5-3, on Sunday, August 2, to take three of the four games in the series, Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista tweeted about Royals manager Ned Yost praising home-plate umpire Jim Wolf's handling of the game. The game saw two Blue Jays batters hit by pitches and reliever Aaron Sanchez ejected for retaliating by hitting Royals infielder Alcides Escobar. Blue Jays manager John Gibbons was also ejected earlier in the game for arguing with Wolf.
Just heard #NedYost comments about the game. Lost a lot of respect for that man today.
— Jose Bautista (@JoeyBats19) August 2, 2015
That tweet led to Royals pitcher Yordano Ventura calling Jose a "nobody" and accusing him of stealing Kansas City team signs, before deleting the tweet, according to ESPN.
On Monday, Bautista stood by his comments about Yost, adding to ESPN that the Royals manager commending Wolf was "ridiculous."
But when informed of Ventura's comments, Bautista essentially brushed them off to the 24-year-old pitcher's lack of tact.
"He's a young player that could use some maturing," Bautista told ESPN. "Hopefully he focuses on playing the game and allowing his ability to create a name for himself."
Ventura apologized via a tweet in Spanish later on Monday, saying:
"At this moment I am realizing that rage sometimes takes over us as humans and that is what happened with me with the comment that I made about Jose whom is a great human being. I ask him and the fans for their forgiveness. They find themselves shocked with my actions and I am very regretful."
The Blue Jays and Royals will not face each other again during the regular season, but imagine these two ball clubs possibly meeting in the playoffs. It could be possible if Toronto manages to clinch an American League wild-card game and Kansas City holds on to win the American League Central division.
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