Jim Leyland insists that Al Alburquerque meant no ill will toward the Athletics when he fielded a ninth-inning comebacker and quickly kissed the ball before throwing to first.
However, Leyland didn't agree with the display.
"Everybody always says I'm from the old school, so I'd have probably hugged it first," Leyland joked.
"I don't think it was the right thing to do. I will sit here today and I will not try to defend it. I will say that I can assure everybody, including the Oakland A's, Al Alburquerque did nothing intentionally to offend the Oakland A's. A lot of emotion is shown in different ways in the game anymore. You see a lot of different variations of personal celebrations as well as team celebrations."
"It wasn't a smart thing to do, but I can honestly tell you that there is no way that Al Alburquerque or any members of the Detroit Tigers would ever do anything intentionally to offend another team. It just would not happen," Leyland said.
Alburquerque said he did speak to his teammates, and that they knew his gesture was "within the emotion of the game."
"I respect Cespedes and I didn't do it out of disrespect," the pitcher said. "I was just excited to get the out."