Baseballs were not the only thing thrown at Fenway Park last night when the New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox rivalry reached fever pitch.
In normal circumstances, New York’s 10-7 victory against Boston would usually provide the headlines, but in the seventh inning of the Major League Baseball clash all hell broke loose.
A pitch by Red Sox’s Joe Kelly connected with Yankee hitter Tyler Austin, who threw his bat down and confronted his Boston rival. The players squared up, team-mates waded in and the benches stormed the field as punches were thrown during the brawl.
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It was the second incident in the game, ESPN reports, as the “bad blood” returned to “baseball’s most intense rivalry”. Following the brawl, Kelly and Austin were both ejected, as was Yankees third base coach Phil Nevin.
ESPN says that the Yankees-Red Sox fight had baseball fans “buzzing”. Boston pitcher David Price said: “Red Sox-Yankees. That’s what everybody wants. That’s what they got.”
USA Today columnist Bob Nightengale was also pleased to see some spice in what was a “largely dreary” encounter. Nightengale wrote: “Yes, baby, the Red Sox-Yankee feud is alive and well, the greatest rivalry in all of American sports, where only these two teams can turn a largely dreary 3 hour, 59-minute game into an exhilarating joy ride that keeps you riveted to the action.”
Boston Red Sox shortstop Brock Holt, who was involved in the third-inning incident when he was slid into by New York’s Austin, said: “Typical Yankees-Red Sox game. About four hours long. A couple of bench-clearing brawls. We’re right on track, here.”
The 32,400 crowd at Fenway Park also had their say on the “genuine slugfest” as they broke out into their favourite chant of “Yankees Suck! Yankees Suck! Yankees Suck!”
Despite the entertainment of the fight, Boston fans had to watch as the Yankees broke the Red Sox’s nine-game winning streak.
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