LOS ANGELES --- Yuli Gurriel was met with a chorus of boos in his first at-bat at Dodger Stadium since the Houston Astros first baseman made a racist gesture in Game 3 of the World Series.
The jeers started as Gurriel walked to the plate at start of the second inning and didn’t abate as Los Angeles starter Rich Hill toed and then stepped off the rubber. The move allowed the boos to continue for several more seconds.
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Fans voiced their displeasure between each pitch of the at bat before the boos were replaced with cheers as Gurriel popped out to Dodgers first baseman Cody Bellinger in foul territory.
“I think everyone is aware it's going to be a rough setting for him,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch told reporters before Game 5 in Houston. "I don't think you can convince 55,000 fans to turn the page as fast as maybe the two teams have. And that goes out of support for their own players and their own people.”
Gurriel was suspended five games – a ban that won’t be enforced until the 2018 regular season --- by Major League Baseball for making a slant-eyed gesture after he hit a home run off Dodgers starter Yu Darvish, a native of Japan. Gurriel, who is Cuban, was also ordered to undergo sensitivity training.
Gurriel met with Darvish last weekend to apologize.
“I didn't think it was going to be this big of a deal,” Darvish said on Tuesday before Game 6. “I was telling my interpreter that, hey, maybe this is going to be a big deal after the game. And it did.”
