Austin Capobianco, a Yankees fan, spoke out for the first time after the Game 4, 2024 World Series incident in which he tried to pull a baseball from Mookie Betts’ glove.
This act of interference happened when Betts was making a catch, resulting in instantaneous aggression from the people, and his ejection from the game. Capobianco stated that he understood there would be repercussions for touching but did so anyway to try to get his hand on the glove of Betts.
Speaking to ESPN, he said that Peter [his friend] and he always discuss such scenarios as this — if a foul ball is approaching them, they are not afraid to do everything in order to help the team.
"We always joke about the ball in our area. We're not going to go out of our way to attack. If it's in our area, we're going to 'D' up. Someone defends, someone knocks the ball. We talk about it. We're willing to do this," Capobianco told the news outlet in a local bar.
He added,
“I know when I'm in the wrong and as soon as I did it, I was like, "Boys I'm out of here”. I patrol that wall and they know that.”
Betts was asked about the incident after the game, to which he replied:
“It doesn't matter. We lost. It's irrelevant. I'm fine, he's fine. Everything's cool. We lost the game, that's what I'm kind of focused on. We got to turn the page and get ready for tomorrow.”
However, Dodgers’ Ben Casparius told The Athletic:
"I have never seen anything like it. It was obviously very early in the game so I think it kind of set the tone.”
While Dodgers shortstop Tommy Edman told The Athletic that it was “unacceptable,” Kansas City Royals outfielder Thomas Pham told the news outlet that “Buddy touching me would be a problem” when asked how he would have reacted.
About the incident
In the first inning of Game 4 of the 2024 World Series on October 29, a remarkably provoking moment took place. The controversial incident involved Yankees infielder Gleyber Torres and Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts.
When Torres geared up to bat, he swung at a foul ball that was hit down to the right field. Betts dashed towards the wall in order to catch the ball. As soon as the ball was in his glove, a fan reached over the railing in an attempt to get the ball out of Betts’ hands. Such abrupt interaction not only surprised Betts but also garnered instantaneous responses from fans and security personnel.
These provoked actions were considered unfitting and the measures were taken without any delay by stadium security officials as the individual was ejected from Dodger Stadium.
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Regardless, Betts nailed the out and it appeared as Dodgers maintained the lead – until the bottom of the third inning when Yankees shortstop, Anthony Volpe, hit his grand slam to take New York up 5-1. It was a close game again in the beginning but the Yankees bounced back to score 11-4 marking victory.
The two teams will meet for the third time in the Bronx on Wednesday night before the series heads to Los Angeles on Friday.
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