A Blue Jays fan threw a beer can at Hyun Soo Kim during a fly ball catch attempt

By Oct 4, 2016, 10:27 PM EDT
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With two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning in a 2-2 ballgame during Tuesday night’s American League Wild Card game between the Orioles and Blue Jays, pinch-hitter Melvin Upton, Jr. appeared to hit an uninteresting inning-ending fly out to left field. Hyun Soo Kim camped under the ball and as the ball was secured in his glove, some small item appeared to land on the turf nearby. As slow motion replay would confirm shortly thereafter, a fan threw a beer can at Kim, attempting to interfere with his ability to make the catch.

Center fielder Adam Jones was livid. Standing next to Kim, he pointed and shouted at the fans (or perhaps the culprit specifically) for their behavior. Security at the Rogers Centre immediately made their way to the seats in left field to determine who threw the can. Meanwhile, Orioles manager Buck Showalter came out to discuss the issue with the umpires. Had Kim not made the catch, one wonders if Upton would have been called out anyway due to fan interference (rule 3.16).

A Cubs fan at Wrigley Field threw a cup of beer at Phillies center fielder Shane Victorino back in 2009. These incidents happen every so often. While it’s easy to castigate the entire Blue Jays fan base for this, every fan base has some percentage of petulant fans.

It’s unfortunate that this happened because Tuesday’s AL Wild Card game has been a good one. As of this writing, it’s still a 2-2 ballgame.

Aaron Judge hits 18th homer of season, Yankees beat Mariners 10-2

Associated PressMay 31, 2023, 1:13 AM EDT
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SEATTLE (AP) Aaron Judge homered for the third time in two games, Anthony Volpe and Greg Allen also went deep and the New York Yankees stretched their winning streak to four with a 10-2 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night.

Judge hit a towering fly ball on the first pitch of the seventh inning from reliever Darren McCaughan that carried just enough to clear the fence in left-center field, even if it would not have been a homer at Yankee Stadium.

It was the 18th of the season for Judge, who hit a pair of homers in the series opener on Monday night.

While Judge hitting another homer will get the headlines, it was Volpe’s long ball that broke open the game. With two outs in the third inning, Seattle starter Logan Gilbert caught too much of the plate with a 1-2 slider and Volpe drove the pitch 413 feet for a three-run shot and a 6-0 lead. It was Volpe’s eighth homer of the season and snapped a 2-for-22 slide for the rookie.

Allen, filling in for injured center fielder Harrison Bader, hit his first of the season leading off the fourth inning. Isiah Kiner-Falefa also had a key two-run single in the first inning as the Yankees took advantage of an error to give starter Nestor Cortes a 3-0 advantage before he took the mound.

Kiner-Falefa had another two-run single in the ninth. New York has scored at least 10 runs in three straight games for the first time since Sept. 15-17, 2020.

Cortes (5-2) mostly cruised through five innings, allowing two runs and five hits with six strikeouts. Ty France and Teoscar Hernández had RBI doubles in the fifth inning. Judge nearly stole another hit from Hernández after robbing him of a homer on Monday, but his diving attempt at Hernández’s liner fell for a double.

Gilbert (3-3) lasted just four innings for the second time this season. The five earned runs allowed were a season-high and the four strikeouts matched a season-low.

SEE YA LATER

Seattle catcher Tom Murphy and manager Scott Servais were both ejected by plate umpire Brian Walsh in the sixth inning. Murphy was ejected after yelling toward first base umpire C.B. Bucknor following a check-swing that was called a strike. Servais argued the decision to eject Murphy and was quickly tossed by Walsh. It was the second ejection this season for Servais.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Yankees: Bader (hamstring) was placed on the 10-day IL after leaving Monday’s game in the third inning injuring his right hamstring running out an infield single. OF Franchy Cordero was recalled.

Mariners: McCaughan was recalled from Triple-A Tacoma to add a long reliever to the bullpen. RHP Juan Then was optioned to Tacoma. It was Seattle’s first roster move in 24 days.

UP NEXT

Yankees: RHP Clarke Schmidt (2-5, 5.58) took the loss despite allowing only one earned run over five innings in his last start against Baltimore. Schmidt has gone at least five inning in five of his last seven starts.

Mariners: RHP George Kirby (5-4, 3.43) was knocked around for seven earned runs and four home runs allowed in his last start against Pittsburgh. Both matched career highs.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP-Sports