NEW YORK (AP) — Players on the Cleveland Guardians didn’t pause in their assessment of Yankees fans after a pair of terrifying and chaotic altercations in the ninth inning of Saturday’s game at Yankee Stadium.
“No class,” Guardians center fielder Myles Straw told reporters after the loss in the Bronx. “Worst fanbase on the planet.”
Cleveland was one out away from a comeback victory when Yankees shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit a game-tying double off the left-field wall. On the play, Guardians left fielder Steven Kwan crashed into the fence trying to catch the ball, requiring the attention of members of the Cleveland training staff.
Right fielder Oscar Mercado explained after the game that the fans in left field were celebrating Kwan’s injury rather than Kiner-Falefa’s tying double. As certain fans continued to chant on the field, Straw defended his teammate from him and jumped over the outfield wall, yelling at one of the hecklers.
“You can celebrate, twitter all you want during the game, but don’t try to hurt people. Things don’t work like that,” Mercado said.
Moments later, Gleyber Torres came off the bench for New York, delivering a game-winning single to right field. When the ball hit the outfield grass in front of Straw and Mercado, fans in the stands immediately began throwing beer cans, water bottles and other objects onto the field of play.
At one point, Mercado caught an oncoming beer that was aimed at his face. A referee was also pierced in the back.
“Personally, I’m not going to sit there and let them throw things at me and take it like it was nothing. They need to be held accountable,” Mercado told reporters. “I think there should be rules in place for that because, in all honesty, that’s ridiculous. That shouldn’t happen. Say what you want to say and do what you want to do, but at the end of the day, there have to be consequences for behavior like that”.
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Straw added that there is “no reason” to throw beers at people on the field.
“I’ve never seen anything like it anywhere else,” he said.
While their fans acted nonsensical, the Yankees defended their opponents. As trash rained down onto the outfield grass, the likes of Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton broke free of their wrap-up celebration and ran toward the fight to tell fans to stop. Gerrit Cole and Anthony Rizzo were among those who helped escort the Guardians back to their dugout.
“I appreciate the Yankees players going out there and trying to control them. I have a lot of respect for that,” Mercado added.
This is not the first instance of fans throwing objects onto the field at Yankee Stadium. Last April, a fan hit Red Sox left fielder Alex Verdugo with a baseball. A few months later, fans around the stadium threw baseballs onto the field during a blowout against the Rays.
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