Fans at Comerica Park on Monday night came for a baseball game, but they stayed for a wild squirrel chase that was, in a word, simply nutty.
It's not exactly uncommon to see a black squirrel at the Tigers home park. One made a ruckus last season when it scurried past the field-level bullpen and gave a Detroit reliever quite the fright. But this most recent bushy-tailed critter wanted to be a part of the action, and it would not be deterred.
For about a full inning, the squirrel made its odyssey around the park, starting on the warning track where it refused to be corralled through an open fence. Instead it scampered into short left field, then checked out the foul lines before posting up for a time next to Baltimore's third-base coach, who tossed a couple seeds in its direction. The squirrel even encountered a bird along the way, though it only expressed mild curiosity in the feathered friend before moving along again.
All the while, Tigers play-by-play announcer Jason Benetti was chronicling the journey with gusto.
"We're six innings deep, it's 8-5, this game has been a zoo," he quipped.
But the game inside the game was just getting started.
In between innings, the entire grounds crew came pouring onto the field with one very clear objective, and it had nothing to do with any tarp. They chased the squirrel into the right-field corner, where at one point O's outfielder Leody Taveras tried to scoop it up in his glove, to no avail.
The chase continued along the warning track, where the fleet-footed creature showed off moves that will have the Detroit Lions running backs room reviewing the tape. Finally one brave member of the grounds crew was able to wrap the squirrel up in a towel and escort it safely off the field.
The pursuit had come to an end, but a short while later Tigers mascot PAWS was caught in the stands holding up a makeshift sign.
"Free the squirrel," it read.
That's pretty much what everyone watching from home and in the stands was feeling, in a nutshell.