Red Sox outfielder Alex Verdugo was hit in the back with a baseball thrown by a fan in the sixth inning at Yankee Stadium on Saturday night.
After getting hit, Verdugo was furious, yelling at fans in the stands, and Boston manager Alex Cora took his team off the field for a few minutes before the game was restarted. It was eventually called because of rain after six innings, with the Yankees winning, 3-1.
Multiple fans in the left-field bleachers told The Post the ball was tossed into the stands after warmups between the top and bottom of the sixth. Chants immediately began for the fan with the ball to throw it back. He did, and it hit Verdugo. The fan was ejected from the game.
“He turned around and he started yelling at them,” security guard Carlos Ventura said, referring to Verdugo. “My supervisor found the person and they got him.”
“One thing I learned last year, and this is something I forgot throughout my career, this is just a game,” Cora said. “It’s a game. This is not life and death. It’s not this drama. The fact people came to the ballpark and they decided to throw at one of the players, I was in shock that happened.”
Cora said he pulled the Red Sox off the field to calm Verdugo down and make sure nothing worse happened.
“I know my left fielder. I know Alex,” Cora said. “He needed time to breathe and to get his thoughts. It seemed like nobody was listening to me. You never know. What if he jumps the fence? What if he goes up there?”
Verdugo said he was trying to throw the ball to a young Red Sox fan in the crowd, but it wound up with a Yankees fan.
“As fans, ya’ll got to be better,” Verdugo said. “You don’t throw s–t at people. You wouldn’t do that to somebody in the street.
“It don’t sit right with me.”
