Torii Hunter: Minnesota Twins Outfielder Has Epic Meltdown After Being Ejected From Game [VIDEO]
Minnesota Twins outfielder Torii Hunter had an epic meltdown Wednesday night after being ejected from a game against the Kansas City Royals in a 7-2 loss.
After being called out on strikes in the bottom of the eighth, Torii Hunter, 39, got all up in the home plate umpire Mark Ripperge’s face to express his feelings about the calls.
Torii Hunter took his clothes off after getting ejected Wednesday. Yup. (Video) http://t.co/lxmWB0RUiZ pic.twitter.com/ljzkc8D6Q3
— NESN (@NESN) June 11, 2015
“I thought it was a ball. The pitch before that I thought it was a little up and he called it a strike. That’s fine, but I thought the last pitch he called a strike was revenge because I said something the pitch before.”
VIDEO: Torii Hunter loses his cool vs. Royals, throws jersey and batting gloves onto the field http://t.co/dUaKFnXFWT pic.twitter.com/26t95RYDbA
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 11, 2015
As the umpire threw Torii Hunter out of the game, Twins coach Paul Molitor trotted over to his defense and was also ejected.
Torii Hunter had an epic meltdown on Wednesday night http://t.co/zecRHqDeTg [h/t @cjzero] pic.twitter.com/dYEDrNPW1Q
— SB Nation MLB (@SBNationMLB) June 11, 2015
“I went out there and tried to protect him. I became a sideshow to the big show, from what I hear.”
That’s when all hell broke loose.
According to the Bleacher Report, the field became filled with Torii Hunter’s “dirty laundry.”
“First went his helmet and his protective gear, then a horribly thrown batting glove and finally his jersey. By the time Hunter exited the field, there was more laundry than grass.”
Molitor further explained the meltdown in a press conference following the game, as reported by the Pioneer Press.
Watch: Twins’ Torii Hunter throws batting gloves, jersey after ejection http://t.co/tRLQxBhtfE pic.twitter.com/ASjk6W8Gdu
— SI MLB (@si_mlb) June 11, 2015
“I thought they were cheering that I was arguing for a change. When I turned around, I saw the jersey coming off and then I realized that Torii hadn’t quite reached the end of his whatever you want to call it.”
Torii Hunter tried to explain his actions, saying the anger of the calls got the better of him.
“Just a lot of emotions, man. What can you do? Can’t do nothing about it. Can’t talk about them. Can’t do anything about them. We get in trouble for it. All you need to do is just look at the video and decide for yourself.”
The poor batboy had quite the cleanup after Torii Hunter’s rant and shared a post to Twitter after the game.
I’m the bat boy that had to pick up all the things that Torii Hunter threw onto the field. pic.twitter.com/oVG2gy6BKU
— Chad Raines (@chad_rain) June 11, 2015
What do you think of Torii Hunter’s meltdown?
[Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images]