Baseball has lengthy embraced its share of quirky fan traditions, from the wave to throwing again opposing dwelling run balls. However Friday night time at Oracle Park, one fan took issues means too far — and created one of many strangest scenes of the MLB season.
In the course of the fourth inning of the San Francisco Giants’ 5-4 extra-inning win over the Atlanta Braves, chaos briefly erupted when two baseballs ended up on the sector in the midst of dwell play. The weird second occurred after Braves catcher Sean Murphy lifted a sacrifice fly to proper discipline. Giants outfielder Mike Yastrzemski made the catch and launched a throw dwelling as Matt Olson tagged from third.
Simply as Olson slid safely throughout the plate, one other ball instantly got here flying onto the sector — this one not from a glove, however from the stands. The second ball bounced previous dwelling plate and rolled towards the mound, sparking confusion amongst gamers, umpires, and followers.
“That’s a primary,” Giants supervisor Bob Melvin mentioned after the sport. “I’ve by no means seen that earlier than. I don’t know the place it got here from. I don’t know what the rule is. It didn’t have an effect on the play, but it surely was extraordinarily odd to see one other baseball come on the sector.”
Giants fan causes confusion on Friday night time
The offender seemed to be a fan within the higher deck who hurled the ball over the protecting netting. Although the second ball didn’t alter the end result of the play, it practically created a harmful state of affairs on the sector. Umpires huddled briefly however in the end allowed the run to face, and play resumed with no penalties.
Giants starter Hayden Birdsong, who was on the mound on the time, was momentarily baffled.
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“I believed it was the ball that was thrown dwelling,” Birdsong mentioned. “I used to be like, ‘Why is the ball means out right here?’ Then I spotted Patty [catcher Patrick Bailey] had the opposite one.”
Infielder Tyler Fitzgerald didn’t maintain again when requested concerning the incident: “It might’ve hit one in every of us. That’s harmful. Then I might’ve been pissed.”
Even longtime broadcaster Mike Krukow, who’s seen nearly every part in his years with the Giants, was left shocked.
“Some clown threw the baseball onto the sector,” Krukow mentioned on the TV broadcast. “I’ve by no means seen that.”
The Giants, who picked up the walk-off win in 10 innings, had different oddities within the recreation — together with two pickoffs and a caught stealing — however the thriller of the mid-play baseball toss stole the highlight.
Whether or not the fan accountable was caught stays unclear, however most agree: this crossed a line. The danger of harm and the potential to intervene with dwell play make this greater than only a goofy second. If recognized, the fan must be banned from Oracle Park for good.
As Fitzgerald put it, “It’s not humorous. We’re on the market making an attempt to play, not dodge flying baseballs.”