It was quite a scene in the first inning when reigning MVP Josh Donaldson grounded out to short and was jogging back to the dugout when he appeared to say something to home plate umpire Tony Basner and was tossed from the game.
Donaldson apparently was yelling at the Twins dugout, as it turned out.
``As I was jogging back, something was said to me from the Twins side of the dugout about how I was running to first base," Donaldson said. "I decided to respond and the next thing I knew, I was getting ejected."
We were unable to uncover what exactly was said. There was speculation that the Twins were chirping at Basner during Donaldson's at bat. Someone in the clubhouse claimed that it was a fan behind their dugout who yelled at Donaldson as he returned to his dugout.
``After the ground out he was running back and he was saying something to somebody and his hand gestures made it look like he was saying something to our dugout, but I missed that," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. ``I'm sure he knows what he was doing and who he was speaking to. But the umpire heard something and he took care of it."
Donaldson apparently punctuated his statement with an expletive as he jogged by Basner, and Basner thought it was directed at him.
``He grounded out, and while he's running back to his dugout he said something to [the Twins] dugout," crew chief Joe West said to a pool reporter. ``He yelled back. But when he went by the home plate umpire he yelled (an expletive). So, the home plate umpire ejected him, and understandably so. Donaldson argued, 'I wasn't talking to you.' But at the time that he did it, he was right in (Basner's) direction."
It is not clear who in the Twins dugout got under Donaldson's skin.
