The Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame pulled Kelly Gruber from its induction weekend festivities after the former Toronto Blue Jays third baseman made an awkward appearance during a Pitch Talks panel discussion a day earlier.

Gruber was briefly on stage at the Homestand Sports event Thursday night with host Ashley Docking and Rogers Sportsnet broadcaster Kevin Barker in Toronto. In a joint statement Friday Youth Brandon Parker Jersey , the Hall of Fame and Pitch Talks said the proceedings were stopped 45 minutes early due to Gruber’s ”unacceptable and inappropriate behavior.”

”Basically what happened was by the time he got on stage he appeared to be inebriated,” said Homestand Sports founder Kevin Kennedy. ”He was just acting sort of obnoxious, kind of erratic, he was confrontational with our host, Ashley, and quite quickly I knew that this wasn’t going in the right direction.”

Gruber was one of several former Blue Jays chosen to participate in various Hall events in the lead-up to Saturday’s ceremony in Ontario, where former major league stars Pedro Martinez and Lloyd Moseby will be inducted along with baseball historian William Humber.

Gruber’s representative, Don Graham Youth Nick Nelson Jersey , emailed a statement from the former player to The Canadian Press on Friday evening.

”There’s two sides to every story and I would love to tell mine,” Gruber said. ”Maybe what I said was taken the wrong way. My intention for being there was to honor my teammate and buddy Lloyd, and the interview part went south for a variety of reasons which I will detail at a later date.”

The 56-year-old Gruber made his big league debut with the Blue Jays in 1984. He won a World Series with Toronto in 1992 and ended his career with the Angels the following year.

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Matt Duffy’s RBI single with two outs in the ninth drove in the game’s only run in the Tampa Bay Rays‘ 1-0 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday.

Duffy drove in Mallex Smith, who doubled with one out and moved to third base on a ground ball.

Diego Castillo (1-0) got his first major league win after pitching two innings of relief.

Ryan Tepera (3-2) pitched the final 1 2/3 innings for the Jays, who were swept in the three-game series and have lost five of six to the Rays this season. It was the 12th time the Blue Jays have scored one run or none this season.

Curtis Granderson had the first three of Toronto’s five hits, leadoff singles in the first, third and fifth innings and was the only runner to reach third base until Smith in the ninth.

With two outs in the Toronto ninth, Aldemys Diaz hit a line drive that was caught by left fielder Johnny Field near the top of the wall.

Toronto starter J.A. Happ Youth Johnny Townsend Jersey , who was 3-0 in his five previous starts, gave up one hit and three walks in five innings.

Rays starter Wilmer Font gave up two hits in 3 1/3 innings.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Blue Jays: 3B Josh Donaldson (left calf tightness) will run the bases Thursday and if all goes well could join Triple-A Buffalo on Friday.

Rays: OF Johnny Field was back in the lineup after missing two games with a sprained knee.

SIXTEEN NOT-SO SWEET

Thursday’s game at New York marks the start of a 16-game stretch in which the Rays will play only the Yankees, Astros and Nationals. ”We’re going to really see what kind of team we have here against the best in the league,” Blake Snell said.

UP NEXT

Blue Jays: RHP Aaron Sanchez (3-5, 4.33 ERA) will pitch Friday night against the Washington Nationals in the opening game of a five-game homestand.

Rays: LHP Blake Snell (8-3, 2.30 ERA) will start in Thursday night’s opener of a four-game series at Yankee Stadium against Domingo German (0-4, 5.32). Snell is 3-0 with a 0.38 ERA in his past four starts.

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