Ross Stripling let his frustration get the best of him.
Ross Stripling let his frustration get the best of him.
Stripling, who started for the Blue Jays in Wednesday’s 3-2 loss to the Yankees, induced a slow ground ball up the third base line from Giancarlo Stanton with two outs in the sixth inning. Third baseman Joe Panik charged and fielded the ball with his bare hand, but his throw to first sailed high, allowing Stanton to reach.
Stripling proceeded to slap the grass and yell in Panik’s direction.
“It’s the most disrespectful thing I’ve ever done, maybe ever certainly on a baseball field,” Stripling said after the game. “I’m completely embarrassed about it, I simply let the moment get too big for me.
“Honestly, I’m mortified by it, I can’t stand that’s the way that went. I apologized to Joe individually, I even addressed the team because I feel so bad about it. That can’t happen. That should never happen. It’ll never happen again from me, I promise you that. Joe, the awesome veteran and person that he is, took it in stride and said no hard feelings, but you can’t do anything worse than that to a teammate and I feel terrible.”
Stripling struck out the next batter, Gio Urshela, to end the inning.
Panik, an eight-year MLB veteran and 2016 Gold Glove recipient, is batting .267 in his second season with the Blue Jays.
Stripling, in his sixth MLB season, came to Toronto in a trade from the Dodgers last year. He has a 4.64 ERA across 11 appearances this season.
This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Jared Greenspan
