HOUSTON – The World Series was roiled by a race-related incident in Friday night’s Game 3 when Houston Astros first baseman Yuli Gurriel made a racist gesture in the wake of hitting a home run off Los Angeles Dodgers starter Yu Darvish.

TV cameras caught Gurriel, a Cuban, making a slant-eyed gesture and laughing after his home run off Darvish kick-started a four-run second inning.

Gurriel apologized afterward, saying he did not mean to offend Darvish, a native of Japan.

MORE FROM GAME 3

“Yesterday I was commenting that I’d never had any success against Darvish, and the gesture was saying that I wish he would look at me like one of them and maybe he’d throw me an easy pitch so I can do something,’’ said Gurriel, who was 1-for-7 in his career against Darvish before the home run. “At no point did I mean that in an offensive way. On the contrary, I’ve always had a lot of respect for them.’’

Gurriel, who had a successful stint in the Japanese league in 2014 before defecting from Cuba and signing with the Astros in July 2016, also acknowledged using the word “chinito’’ – little Chinese guy – in the dugout in reference to Darvish.

“In Cuba and in other places, we call all Asian people Chinese,’’ Gurriel said. “But I played in Japan and I know they find that offensive, so I apologize for that. I know they don’t like it.’’

Darvish, the Japanese right-hander in his sixth major league season, said after the game that he'd seen a replay of the sequence and said he was “disappointed” in Gurriel’s gesture.

"Acting like that…is disrespectful to people around the world," Darvish said through his interpreter after the Astros' 5-3 victory in Game 3. "I try not to care much about it, but he played in Japan and I have a lot of respect for him, so I try not to think about it too much against him."

Darvish seemed subdued, but forgiving of Gurriel's gesture.

"Nobody’s perfect. And everybody’s different," he says. " And we’re going to have to learn from it. We are all human beings. That’s what I’m saying. We’ll learn from it and we have to go forward."

Dodgers teammate Kike Hernandez said he talked to Darvish about the incident and said Darvish was "extremely disappointed, as expected." Earlier this season, Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Kevin Pillar was suspended three games for directing a homophobic slur toward an opponent. It's not likely such a punishment would be adjudicated between Major League Baseball and the union during the World Series, but MLB has shown a greater intolerance for hateful speech.

"I'll let the league handle that one," said Hernandez, a native of Puerto Rico. "All I can say it’s disappointing to me. It’s just unfortunate that he did that right after that and not thinking that the cameras were on him.

"I’m sure (Darvish) is (stung). If it was meant toward Puerto Ricans, I’d be really disappointed. If he is really mad inside and didn't say much, I’m really proud of him for handling it the right way and remaining professional."

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred is expected to meet with Gurriel before Saturday's game.

Gallery: Best of the 2017 World Series