The Yankees are taking steps to try to avoid a repeat of the ugliness that happened at the end of Saturday’s game in The Bronx.
There will be extra security at Yankee Stadium on Sunday afternoon as the Yankees host the Guardians, a team spokesman said. About an hour before first pitch Sunday, there appeared to be a security guard stationed in the first row of the right-field seats and another in the section next to the Guardians’ bullpen in left-center field.
Tensions escalated in the bottom of the ninth inning Saturday between fans in the outfield seats and the Guardians, resulting in beers and trash being thrown onto the field as the Yankees celebrated their walk-off win.
The messy situation started after Cleveland’s Steven Kwan ran into the left-field wall trying to catch Isiah Kiner-Falefa’s game-tying double. As Kwan was tended to by a trainer and manager Terry Francona, Guardians center fielder Myles Straw climbed the wall to get face-to-face with a fan who he said had been mocking Kwan.
Then, after Gleyber Torres hit a walk-off single that Straw and right fielder Oscar Mercado chased down near the warning track, fans started throwing beers and trash in their direction onto the field.
Both teams then ran out into right field, with the Yankees trying to urge their fans to settle down and stop throwing things.
After the game, Straw called Yankees fans the “worst fan base on the planet.”
“I mean, that’s an emotional reaction to the moment,” Aaron Boone said Sunday. “Certainly understand that, but would disagree with that.”
