1 | TORONTO (AP) -- The Royals and Blue Jays have moved on: After an exchange of hit batters, they're now trading barbs on Twitter. |
2 | First, Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista posted a message Sunday night saying he had ''lost a lot of respect'' for Ned Yost after hearing the Royals manager praise home plate umpire Jim Wolf's handling of Sunday's game. |
3 | Two Blue Jays batters were hit by pitches and reliever Aaron Sanchez was ejected for retaliating by hitting Kansas City infielder Alcides Escobar. |
4 | That prompted Royals pitcher Yordano Ventura to post Tweets calling Bautista a ''nobody'' and accuse him of stealing signs. |
5 | Ventura later deleted the messages. |
6 | Bautista took the high road when asked to respond to Ventura's comments Monday. |
7 | ''He's a young player that could use some maturing,'' Bautista said. |
8 | Wold warned both benches after Royals pitcher Edinson Volquez hit Toronto's Josh Donaldson in the first inning of Sunday's game, a 5-2 Blue Jays win. |
9 | Donaldson complained to Wolf after Volquez and reliever Ryan Madson missed high and inside later in the game. |
10 | Madson also hit Toronto's Troy Tulowitzki. |
11 | Neither pitcher was ejected. |
12 | Wolf ejected Sanchez after Escobar was hit on the thigh in the eighth, causing both benches and both bullpens to empty. |
13 | Blue Jays manager John Gibbons, who had been ejected earlier for arguing with Wolf, returned to the field for the melee. |
14 | No punches were thrown. |