{"id":925503,"date":"2026-10-08T16:46:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T16:46:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/925503\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T16:46:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T16:46:11","slug":"fan-interference-denies-yankees-of-game-tying-hr-vs-rays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/925503\/","title":{"rendered":"Fan interference denies Yankees of game-tying HR vs. Rays"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK — Fan interference was called in the sixth inning of Wednesday night\u2019s American League Division Series Game 3 at Yankee Stadium, altering a would-be, tying two-run homer by second baseman Anthony Volpe<\/a> into a run-scoring double.<\/p>\n

With the Yankees\u2019 George Lombard Jr.<\/a> at first base, Volpe lifted a long fly ball to left and Rays left fielder Victor Mesa Jr.<\/a> drifted backward to the fence, with the ball seemingly being pushed by a wind blowing from right field to left. Mesa jumped near the fence, and when the ball disappeared into the stands, Yankee Stadium erupted with cheers for what was initially ruled a tying home run.<\/p>\n

But with Mesa pleading for fan interference, the umpires gathered on the infield and determined that a crew review was needed. Replay showed that a fan in a navy blue Yankees jacket reached beyond the fence for the ball, seemingly into the field of play, with the ball ricocheting off the fan\u2019s hands and into the stands.<\/p>\n

As the video of the play was shown, Rays third baseman Junior Caminero<\/a> waved his arms, as if to wave off Volpe\u2019s home run.<\/p>\n

Crew chief Dan Bellino informed the fans that interference was called — an announcement greeted with a wave of boos. But Bellino then continued by saying that Mesa would not have made the catch, and the replay center determined that Lombard would have scored, with Volpe getting credit for a double.<\/p>\n

Major League Baseball\u2019s interference rule specifically gives the umpires discretion to make that kind of ruling. Rather than a tie score, the Rays still held a 4-3 lead — which is how the game ended, as Tampa Bay swept the best-of-five series to move into the AL Championship Series.<\/p>\n

MLB issued this statement soon thereafter:<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter viewing all relevant angles, the Replay Official definitively determined the spectator interfered with the ball over the field of play. The ball would not have left the playing field nor would it have been caught. The call was overturned, there was spectator interference and no home run. Additionally, the Replay Official scored one run and placed the batter-runner at 2B.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fan who reached out to catch the ball was escorted out of Yankee Stadium by security and police.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was interference,\u201d Mesa said in Spanish. \u201cI believe I might have even been able to get to that ball. Not that it matters whether we won or lost. Well, it\u2019s in the past now. I think they could have even called an out, because I was right there. Everything happens for a reason. It was kind of an in-between call.\u201d<\/p>\n

Players and managers on both sides mostly agreed that the right decision was made.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought they got it right,\u201d New York skipper Aaron Boone said. \u201cWhen he hit it, to my eye looking out there, I was a little concerned right away because it felt like something — I wasn\u2019t sure. And then seeing the replay and seeing it unfold, I thought they did the right thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if he would have caught it or not caught it, the guy would have scored or not,\u201d Rays manager Kevin Cash said. \u201cOur replay official Nick (Rogers) said the runner had passed second base at the point where the ball hit the fan\u2019s wrist or hand, and makes sense why they awarded him home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aaron Judge<\/a> knew once he saw the side-angle replay that it was fan interference. He and his teammates had to deal with that reality.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe almost had a big home run,\u201d Judge said. \u201cOff the bat, I liked the chances.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou go from a tie game to down one,\u201d said starting pitcher Max Fried<\/a>, who gave up a two-run homer to Mesa in the top of the sixth. \u201c(Volpe) made a great swing, and it\u2019s just the way the game goes sometimes. It\u2019s unfortunate because that changes the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

The play added to the history of fan interference in Yankees playoff games.<\/p>\n

During the 1996 playoffs, young Yankees fan Jeffrey Maier carved a place in Yankees history by reaching over Orioles right fielder Tony Tarasco for a long fly hit by Derek Jeter. Rich Garcia, the right-field umpire in that game, ruled no interference, and the Orioles erupted angrily, with manager Davey Johnson and Tarasco arguing furiously that Tarasco would have caught the ball. There was no replay review in MLB at that time, and Jeter\u2019s home run stood.<\/p>\n

The Associated Press contributed to this report. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK — Fan interference was called in the sixth inning of Wednesday night\u2019s American League Division Series…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":925504,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[49,48,92085,82,89837],"class_list":["post-925503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-new-york-yankees-sports-baseball-team-team-statscom-234","tag-sports","tag-tampa-bay-rays-sports-baseball-team-team-statscom-254"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/925503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=925503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/925503\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/925504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=925503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=925503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=925503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}