(670 The Score) After White Sox ace Lucas Giolito challenged Twins third baseman Josh Donaldson to “talk shit” to his face, Donaldson indeed made a point to address their beef face-to-face.
The two had a discussion in the parking lot of Guaranteed Rate Field late Tuesday after the White Sox’s 7-6 win against the Twins, Donaldson told reporters Wednesday afternoon. The meeting came after Donaldson rubbed his hands together and appeared to yell, “Hand’s not sticky anymore” after homering off Giolito in the first inning. Amid MLB’s crackdown on pitchers using foreign substances, Giolito took issue with the accusation of previous cheating, calling it a “classless move” from Donaldson and adding, “If you're going to talk shit, talk shit to my face. Don't go across home plate and do all that, just come to me.”
A day later, Donaldson explained what happened when he did initiate a face-to-face meeting with Giolito, who "didn't have much to say," according to Donaldson.
"He said that he thought it was annoying,” Donaldson said. “I said, 'So what? I'm on the opposing team. What do you care about me? I said, 'I'm in your face, I'm telling you what I think. What do you have to say about that?' And he didn't have any response."
Donaldson characterized his comments after his home run as "in jest to my team" and didn't believe the matter was as big of a deal as Giolito made it out to be with his postgame comments Tuesday.
“My intention was not to show up Lucas Giolito, but he took it that way," Donaldson said, according to Vinnie Duber of NBC Sports Chicago.
"He has a problem with what he said on the field, and I have a problem with what he has to say in the Zoom room. And that's OK. We're not supposed to like each other. He's on another team.”
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Donaldson stood by his belief that Giolito was likely among the pitchers previously using sticky substances to gain an advantage by increasing their spin rate, saying that Giolito's "curveball spin rate's down 400 or 500, your slider's down 200."
"If we're going to talk about class, what side are you going to choose?” Donaldson said. “Are you going to take the side of someone who's playing the game fair? Or are you going to take the side of somebody that was probably cheating before this happened?"
Donaldson's anger wasn't limited to Giolito, as he also took aim at former White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, who's now an NBC Sports Chicago analyst and on-air contributor on 670 The Score. In an appearance on the Mully & Haugh Show on Wednesday morning, Guillen suggested Giolito should drill Donaldson the next time they face off on the field.
That didn't sit well with Donaldson.
"And I got Ozzie Guillen talking shit on the air saying that, 'I'd let one go, hit him in the ribs,'" Donaldson said, according to the Sun-Times. "Ozzie Guillen, you were a career .700 OPS hitter, man. You were a three-time All-Star and you had an under .700 OPS. My worst season in the big leagues is 150 points higher than that. This is also coming from the man that said he loves Fidel Castro. That's who we're taking advice from? What are we doing around here?"
The AL Central-leading White Sox (46-32) host the Twins (33-44) again at Guaranteed Rate Field on Wednesday evening.