New York – There is fan interference and misdemeanor assault, and what happened to Dodgers star Mookie Betts in the right field corner of Yankee Stadium in the first inning of Tuesday night's 11-4 World Series Game 4 loss to New York. Could. ,
“I've never seen anything like it,” Bates said after the game. Bates was disappointed by the Dodgers' inability to complete a four-game sweep over the Yankees, but was happy to avoid serious injury in the game. “But there's always a first time for the first.”
Gleyber Torres led off the bottom of the first with a fly ball to right that went into foul field. Bates, a six-time Gold Glove Award-winning outfielder, jumped over the high padded wall in foul field and made the catch between two Yankees fans, one of whom wore a road gray jersey and the other wore a home white pinstriped jersey.
But as Bates tried to secure the ball, the fan in a road jersey – whom The Athletic's Brendan Kuti identified as 38-year-old Austin Capobianco of Connecticut – reached into Bates' glove in an attempt to knock the ball loose.
Another fan then grabbed the wrist of Bates' throwing hand and yanked it hard so that the outfielder could not catch the ball, which slipped through Bates' glove and onto the dirt warning track. Right-field umpire Mark Carlson immediately called fan interference, and Torres was ejected.
Capobianco and another fan, who was not identified, were escorted out by stadium security and escorted from their seats, exchanging high-fives with cheering fans as they walked up the aisle and at least Hug once.
“Yeah, from my perspective it looked ridiculous,” said Dodgers shortstop Tommy Edman. “The guy was trying to take his gloves off, pulling his wrist. … It looked like he got thrown out, and I'm glad he did. I have never seen anything like this. This was unacceptable.”
Bates played the first six years of his big-league career with the Boston Red Sox, opposite one of baseball's fiercest rivalries, so he's accustomed to being the object of scorn in the Bronx. But in his 11 big league seasons he has never seen fans take such aggressive action toward a player.
Although he was clearly angry at the fans after the game, he held no ill will toward them after the game.
Bates said of the play, “It doesn't matter, we lost, it's irrelevant.” “I'm fine. [The fan] Ok. Everything is great. We lost the game and that's my focus. We need to turn the page and get ready for Game 5 on Wednesday.
Dodgers reliever Ben Kasperius, who threw the first two innings of the bullpen game Tuesday night, allowing one run and one hit, striking out three and striking out one, grew up as a Red Sox fan in Westport, Conn., and said that He attended some 50–60 games at Yankee Stadium as a child, always wearing his Red Sox gear.
Was the right-hander surprised by what happened to Bates?
“No, not at all,” Casparius said. “I think it was an interesting moment, just a few pitches into the game. And obviously, there's a history with this team [Mookie] As long as he played for the Red Sox. “It was like a ‘Here we go’ moment right at the beginning.”
The Dodgers had a “here we go again” moment in the top of the first when Bates doubled into the right field corner with one out and Freddy Freeman drove two runs into the right field seats for a 2–0 lead. Wally Homer stood up. , It was once again an amazing experience for Freeman, who hit a two-run homer in the first inning of Monday night's 4-2 Game 3 win.
But the Yankees scored once in the second, and shortstop Anthony Volpe crushed Dodgers reliever Daniel Hudson's poorly placed first-pitch slider into the left field seats for a two-out grand slam and a 5–2 lead.
The Dodgers scored twice in the top of the fifth to narrow the deficit to 5–4, but New York catcher Austin Wells blasted a solo homer into the second deck in right field in the sixth to cut the lead to 6–4.
The Yankees then opened the game with five runs in the eighth off Dodgers right-hander Brent Honeywell, a rally that was highlighted by Torres' three-run homer to right-center.
Struggling Yankees slugger Aaron Judge concluded the rally with an RBI single to left field after walking, being hit by a pitch, reaching on an error, and flying out to center field in his first four plate appearances.
“They're going to fight,” Bates said of the Yankees. “If you have come this far, you have a resilience. You will be fighting the whole time. We expected this. Obviously, we didn't play well today and they played well. That's why they won.
“Right now we are ahead three to one. We feel very good about it. But unless you win the fourth game, no lead is safe.”