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Ex-Twin Zack Littell shows up Giants manager Gabe Kapler

Littell apparently wanted to stay in the game despite getting rocked by the Braves.

Joe Nelson

Ex-Twin Zack Littell shows up Giants manager Gabe Kapler
Ex-Twin Zack Littell shows up Giants manager Gabe Kapler /

Remember Zack Littell? The right-handed reliever who played for the Twins from 2018 to 2020 before signing with the Giants in 2021. Littell isn't a guy who usually makes headlines, but he's all over them Tuesday after he got upset when manager Gabe Kapler took him out of the game Monday night. 

Littell entered in the eighth inning of the Giants-Braves game and immediately gave up two runs on a double, walk and back-to-back singles to start the inning. He then induced a double-play grounder before Kapler pulled him. 

Littell forcefully put the ball in Kapler's hand and barked at his manager as he walked away. Kapler stared him down and then escorted Littell out of the dugout, where they had a private conversation. 

"He wanted to stay in that game, obviously. He's a competitor and wanted to finish that inning. I think it was just his wanting me to know that he wanted to finish the inning," Kapler explained. 

"There's obviously a way to do that. Zack knows that. We discussed it and he knows that when I come out to get the ball he just needs to put the ball in my hand and we'll talk about anything later. We open the door for conversations around when players enter and exit games. I'm happy to discuss those things with players and there's a way to do that. I think Zack understands that."

"Obviously on the field we had a little bit and then we spoke in the tunnel. That's something that we don't really want to address during the game," Littell said. "After the game I went in and apologized for my part in it. Moving forward."

It was 3-0 Giants when Littell entered the game and 3-2 when he left. The guy who relieved Littell, left-hander Scott Alexander, got the final out of the eighth inning and pitched a clean ninth for the save. 

"We handled it. It's taken care of. I'm not going to get into the details of that conversation, but he understands the situation," Kapler concluded. 

Littell has a 5.08 ERA in 33 appearances with the Giants this season. 

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Joe Nelson
JOE NELSON

Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen.  His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011.  Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play.  Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers.  Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17. 

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