Indians' tweet: Only 'circumstances' Blue Jays face are quartet of arms

ByAndrew Marchand ESPN logo
Monday, October 17, 2016

The AL Championship Series received some extra juice for Game 3 after the Cleveland Indiansengaged in a little trash talk via their Twitter account after Toronto Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista complained about how his team was treated in the first two games of the series.

The Indians lead the series 2-0.

Bautista told reporters on Sunday that the Blue Jays were victims of "circumstances," seeming to imply that the umpires in the first two games in Cleveland were biased against Toronto's hitters.

A social media editor for the Indians' verified Twitter account seized on the quote to introduce their theory for why the Jays scored only one run in their two losses to begin the series.

Replying to USA Today reporter Mike Vorkunov, who tweeted Bautista's full quote, the Indians' account sent out a photograph montage featuring relievers Andrew Miller and Cody Allen and starters Corey Kluber and Josh Tomlinaccompanied by the word "circumstances."

Kluber started ALCS Game 1 for the Indians, Tomlin started Game 2, and Miller and Allen appeared in relief in both games.

On Monday, the Indians asked their Twitter followers what their opponent's next excuse will be.

Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion have complained about the umpiring during the first two games of the series, during which the Blue Jays have gone 10-for-63 with no homers. Both deflected questions about the umpires in postgame interviews, declining to go into full detail.

On Sunday, Bautista still wouldn't fully explain his feelings, but he seemed to go further.

"All you have to do is go look at video and try to count the number of pitches they have thrown over the heart of the plate," Bautista said. "It hasn't been many. They've been able to do that because of the circumstances -- that I'm not trying to talk about because I can't. That is for you guys to do, but you guys don't really want to talk about that either."