Chicago White Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito wasn't taking any crap from Minnesota Twins veteran Josh Donaldson after seeing what Donaldson said during his home run celebration in the first inning of Tuesday night's game.
Donaldson went yard off Giolito on his fifth pitch of the game. As the Twins third baseman crossed home plate, the TV broadcast picked him up saying this: “Hey, it's not sticky anymore! It's not sticky anymore!” Donaldson was rubbing his hands together as he said it, seemingly referencing MLB's recent crackdown on pitchers using foreign substances.
Here's video:
Still raining!! ☔️@Twins | #MNTwins pic.twitter.com/nG2dINt1X1
— Bally Sports North (@BallySportsNOR) June 30, 2021
While the White Sox pitcher apparently didn't notice this in real time, he saw it after the game and absolutely went off on Donaldson, per MLB.com:
“He's a [expletive] pest. That's kind of a classless move,” Giolito said during his postgame Zoom. “If you're going to talk [expletive], talk [expletive] to my face. Don't go across home plate and do all that, just come to me.”
Giolito and the White Sox ultimately did get the last laugh in the game, taking home a 7-6 victory to continue their season-long domination of the disappointing Twins. The White Sox right-hander gave up three runs over six innings and picked up the victory.
Donaldson's first-inning home run was his only hit of the night as he went 1-for-4 at the plate. The veteran has been extremely outspoken about pitchers using sticky stuff, going after New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole earlier this season as well. Donaldson wasn't available for comment after this game.
Twins manager Rocco Baldelli tried to come to the defense of both his player and Giolito, claiming he didn't think Donaldson was directing anything at the pitcher and that he hasn't heard anything bad about the White Sox in terms of using sticky stuff.
This seems credulous at best when it comes to Donaldson's actions, and we'll see what he says when he addresses the media next.
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