Small crowd, big problem.
Some of the 10,202 fans at Yankee Stadium made their presence felt in a bad way on Friday night when they started throwing baseballs and other objects on the field during the eighth round of the 8-2 loss. of the Yankees in front of Ray.
“You’re always worried when there’s a chance people will throw things on the field,” said Rays manager Kevin Cash. “I don’t know if it was baseball gift day. For whatever reason, one or two did and it looked like there were 15 others following. ”
The crowd would have been bigger if it weren’t for the COVID-19 restrictions in New York. And by the time people started throwing things, the crowd was smaller than the announced figure: the disgust in a game in which the Yankees made three mistakes and had no run in a six-run shot, he sent some at the exits.
Yankees manager Aaron Bonne is a third-generation baseball player and doesn’t remember witnessing a similar scene. He chose his words very carefully, saying “it looks bad for everyone.”
The apparent message – play better! – was not lost on the Yankees, even if the form in which it was delivered was embarrassing.
“It was the first time I thought I experienced this,” left-back Clint Frazier said of fans throwing objects on the field. “You never want to get to that, obviously, and we hope we go before we play well enough where it doesn’t happen.”
Giancarlo Stanton’s players now seemed to think the job was done and acted more defensively, just waiting for the ref to blow the final whistle. The rays did not return to the shelter.
“Hopefully they will stop immediately and none of their players have been hit,” Stanton said. “You never want him to get to that point, but we just hope he doesn’t get to a point where he has to stop or turn to play.”
It had “no effect” on how the final outs were played, Cash said.
“I had no idea why it happened,” said Rays-appointed Brandon Lowe. “Suddenly a ball appeared in the center [field]. … I threw it at the group of fans who seemed to be asking for it. They were thrilled when they got it. And then all of a sudden there are 10 balls on the field. ”