Gabe Lacques of USA TODAY Sports reports that Major League Baseball is investigating Blue Jays outfielder Kevin Pillar’s use of a homophobic slur directed at Braves reliever Jason Motte on Wednesday night. Motte quick-pitched Pillar, which the latter did not like. After Pillar struck out, he yelled the slur at Motte.
Pillar did apologize to Motte later. Speaking to the media after Wednesday’s loss, he said, “It was immature, it was stupid, it was uncalled for. It’s part of the game, it’s just, I’m a competitive guy and heat of the moment. Obviously I’m going to do whatever I’ve got to do to reach out and apologize and let him know he didn’t do anything wrong, it was all me.”
Good on Pillar for doing the right thing afterwards, but Major League Baseball is right to investigate the incident because hateful language has no place in the game.
The benches actually cleared twice during Wednesday’s game: after Pillar and Motte’s tiff in the seventh inning, and after Jose Bautista hit a home run in the eighth. Bautista stared at his homer, then at reliever Eric O’Flaherty before flipping his bat demonstratively.
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Somewhat related: Nationals pitcher Matt Albers appeared to shout a homophobic slur after closing out his team’s win over the Phillies on Sunday. Perhaps MLB should look into that, too.
Matt Albers was happy pic.twitter.com/0CWKglYw6f
— Dan Steinberg (@dcsportsbog) May 15, 2017