First went the elbow guard. Then the foot guard. Then the batting gloves.
Torii Hunter then went to the next level, taking his jersey off and flinging it onto the Target Field grass.
A 7-2 loss to the defending AL champion Royals turned explosive in the eighth inning when Hunter and manager Paul Molitor were ejected for arguing balls and strikes with home plate umpire Mark Ripperger. The frustration boiled over as the Royals completed a three-game sweep of a Twins team sputtering on offense and shaky on defense.
"Just a lot of emotions," Hunter said. "I thought it was a ball. The pitch before that, I thought it was a little up. He called it a strike, that's fine. I thought the last pitch he called a strike was revenge because I said something about the pitch before that, because it was definitely a ball."
The 2-2 pitch that led to Hunter's ejection appeared to be outside, based on replays. Hunter turned to complain to Ripperger and was ejected. Molitor came out to engage Ripperger and was quickly tossed. Both of them yelled at Ripperger until crew chief Jeff Kellogg walked over and moved Hunter away.
"[Hunter has] been emotional this series," said Molitor, who has been ejected five times as a player, three as a coach and now once as a manager. "I think he's trying to bring out a part of this team and how to respond. I think that was a little bit more related to his own situation, maybe as it went on possibly."
At one point Hunter had his forearm across Kellogg's chest and was warned he was going too far. A moment later, equipment and clothing started coming off. Hunter has been ejected nine times in his career, six as a Twin.
"I thought they were cheering that I was arguing for a change," Molitor said. "When I turned around, I saw the jersey coming off and then I realized that Torii had not reached the end of his … whatever you want to call it."