Guardians outfielder’s Myles Straw and Oscar Mercado are the latest players to call out Yankees fans for their behavior
Straw: 'Classless, worst fan base on the planet'
It was just another game at Yankee Stadium on Saturday. The Yankees were hosting the Guardians for their second game of a three-game series.
In the final inning of the game, things went from ordinary too ugly.
There was two outs in the ninth inning and the Guardians were holding onto a one-run lead. Yankees Isiah Kiner-Falefa would rip a 100 mph cutter from Emmanuel Close over the head of outfielder Steven Kwan to tie the game.
Kwan who tried to make a play on the ball crashed into the left-field wall and suffered some facial scrapes and was given a concussion test.
As the Guardians were dealing with Kwan’s potential head first injury into the wall, Yankees fans were allegedly celebrating the injury. Guardians outfielders Myles Straw and Oscar Mercado took offense to the fans reaction to their teammates injury.
“When someone goes headfirst into a wall,” Straw said after the game, “just take a breath and let him get his feet under him. His chin was messed up. His forehead was messed up. Just give him a breather. When someone’s hurt, that’s not something to joke about.”
Following the Kiner-Falefa hit to tie the game, Gleyber Torres would pinch-hit and he would single to right. This would score Kiner-Falefa and the Yankees would win.
And then the chaos would ensure.
Mercado went after the baseball that Torres hit into right field and was met with fans throwing debris on to the field. The Guardians right-fielder slammed his hat on the outfield grass and began to approach the fans in the stands.
Yankees security and players from both teams began to sprint to the outfield to see what was going on with Mercado.
“You could see the debris coming from a mile away,” Straw said, “so just trying to avoid the beer cans. And our bullpen was getting hit with them, too. It doesn’t surprise me.”
Mercado had some strong words about the incident during and following the game.
“You can celebrate your team walking it off all you want, but don’t throw shit on the field,” Mercado said. “Sorry for cussing, but that’s how people can get hurt. I should have probably walked away.
“You can celebrate, chirp all you want during the game, but don’t try to get people hurt. That’s not how things work. Honestly, at the end of the day, we’re human beings as well. I, personally, am not going to sit there and allow them to just throw stuff at me and take it like it’s nothing. They need to be held accountable. I think there should be rules set up for that. In all honesty, that’s ridiculous and that should not happen. Say whatever you want to say. Do whatever you want to do. But at the end of the day, there have to be consequences for behavior like that.”
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