Fan At Yankee Stadium Throws Baseball At Alex Verdugo, Hits Him In The Back
BOSTON (CBS) -- Nothing gets Yankee fans more riled up than playing the Red Sox, but one fan crossed the line on Saturday at Yankee Stadium.
During the bottom of the sixth of the Red Sox contest against the Yankees, play had to be stopped after a fan threw a baseball at Boston left fielder Alex Verdugo that hit him in the back while he was in the field.
Incident at Yankee Stadium now where someone threw a ball at Red Sox LF Alex Verdugo. Play has been halted.
— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) July 18, 2021
Verdugo later expressed his anger at the fans in the section where the ball was thrown from.
Alex Verdugo likes to do the playful banter with Yankees fans. This is not playful though. pic.twitter.com/XClbh8ZFy5
— Michael Hurley (@michaelFhurley) July 18, 2021
His teammates brought him to the Red Sox dugout, as the rest of the team came off the field for several minutes before play was resumed.
New York won 3-1 in a rain-shortened game, but afterwards Yankees manager Aaron Boone called the incident "awful" and "embarrassing".
"My understanding is they did catch the guy. Hopefully, he is in jail right now," said Boone after the game. "It's just a bad situation, and if I was [Red Sox manager] Alex Cora I would have done the same thing as far as go out and get my guys off the field, and there's zero place for that.
The Yankees announced Sunday that the fan who threw the ball is now banned for life at all Major League Baseball ballparks.