NEW YORK -- For a few surreal seconds on Friday evening, the big ballpark in the Bronx belonged not to the Yankees and Red Sox, but to a bushy-tailed intruder.
A squirrel scurried into the batter’s box during the top of the fourth inning at Yankee Stadium, bumping into Jhostynxon Garcia, providing a memorable footnote to the Red Sox rookie’s debut.
As the crowd roared, the squirrel darted up the third-base line, then paused on the mound to get a better look at Yankees left-hander Max Fried -- who did not appear to be pleased by the interruption.
“That’s the first time it’s happened to me,” Fried said after the Yankees’ 1-0 loss. “My first reaction was, ‘Don’t do anything that might embarrass you.’ I thought it was just going to run around, but it came straight to me and went in the little hole I created on the mound.”
Fried stared at the squirrel, which blinked back at him.
“At one point, I think I just said, ‘OK, buddy, let’s go,’” Fried said. “He just did his thing. It's definitely a little strange, but it’s all in good fun.”
From the mound, the squirrel moved across the infield grass to first base, prompting Ben Rice to sidestep out of its path.
“I didn’t want to touch that thing,” Rice said. “The guys are giving me crap for it. ‘Why are you scared of a squirrel?’ I don’t know where that thing’s been. It made a little noise at me.”
Play resumed as the squirrel dashed into foul ground, but Fried seemed rattled, throwing his next pitch to the backstop for ball four.
With players, coaches and grounds crew members all watching with amusement, the squirrel continued searching for an exit as the half-inning continued, bumping into walls down the line.
He finally entered the digital scoreboard on the right-field wall, which is covered by a chain-link fence, and vanished -- for now.
“Somebody’s going to make a shirt out of it and make a lot of money tomorrow,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora predicted.