Texas Rangers pitcher Matt Garza apologized Sunday for his angry twitter rant on Saturday night aimed at Oakland Athletics second baseman Eric Sogard and his wife, Kaycee.
Garza was incensed following Saturday's game after Sogard pushed across a run with a safety squeeze in the A's eventual 4-2 victory, and took to twitter to express his anger over it.
One of Garza's tweets was directed at Sogard's wife in response to a tweet that she sent out talking about the A's victory. It was a milder tweet than most that came from his protected account Saturday night.
"@KayceeSogard tell your husband to speak up so his wife doesn't have to do it for him ... Chumps! ... Hahaha!," Garza tweeted, later saying on the social media platform, "certain people can't shut there woman up!!"
A picture of the tweets of Garza and Kaycee can be found here.
Garza took more of an apologetic tone on Sunday, telling the media that he wasn't going to field any questions on the matter but was going to issue a statement.
"No questions. Just a statement today," Garza told the media Sunday outside the Rangers clubhouse, according to ESPN.. "All I want to say is I let my competitive spirit cross outside the lines, and that shouldn't happen. I let my passion, my fire carry over, and that's not how this game should be played. And for that I apologize to the Sogards for anything that was said through my Twitter. That's all I have. I regret what happened, and I'm just looking forward to a great game today."
Garza added that he hasn't talked to or apologized to Sogard directly, and he doesn't plan to.
Rangers assistant general manager Thad Levine issued an apology to Sogard and the Athletics after calling the tweets inappropriate.
"When we acquired him, we knew, appreciated and were excited about the fire and passion he was going to display on the field when he was playing and pitching and the fire and passion he was going to display in the dugout when he was supporting his teammates," Levine told ESPN. " It's our sincere hope that that's where it stays. We don't think it has a place outside of that. On behalf of the Texas Rangers, we certainly apologize to the Sogards and to the Oakland Athletics for what was said."
While Levine and Garza were both apologetic, Sogard took the comments in stride, saying he and Kaycee took the tweets as a joke and are moving on.
"Obviously it's something you want to leave on the field and move on when the game ends," Sogard said per ESPN.
Garza, who is 7-2 with a 3.09 ERA this season split between the Cubs and the Rangers, and is 1-1 with a 2.82 ERA with Texas after being traded by the Chicago on July 22, has had a history with bad Twitter rants and Levine may tell the pitcher not to tweet anymore.
"That was part of our discussion with him this morning and something actually that he offered up as a smart move on his part just to maybe stop tweeting," Levine said.
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