It was a hold-your-breath type of moment when Yankees closer Clay Homes drilled Baltimore Orioles outfielder Heston Kjerstad in the head with a 96.8 mph fastball in the bottom of the ninth inning Friday night.
But quickly, the scene turned ugly.
After checking in on Kjerstad, who left the game, Orioles manager Brandon Hyde erupted. He yelled and pointed at the Yankees dugout and had to be held back while making his way across the diamond, which caused the benches to clear and a pushing match to ensue. Hyde was ejected.
Following New York’s 4-1 win, Yankees manager Aaron Boone addressed the incident.
“First of all, look, I hope Heston’s all right. Nobody ever wants to see that. It was scary in the moment. So, first and foremost, hope he’s OK,” Boone told reporters, per the YES Network. “And then obviously, emotional moment and two teams playing for a lot. Glad it didn’t escalate too much.”
Boone said he saw where Hyde was coming from in that situation and was glad things didn’t get out of control.
“I understand him coming out and being hot,” Boone said. “One of your guys gets hits like that it’s scary. So I understand that. Looked like some things were directed at Clay. I’m not going to get too much into that other than to say I’m glad he didn’t get too carried away and hoping Kjerstad’s OK.”
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Holmes hit Kjerstard with on an 0-2 pitch with one out — rain was falling as well but it’s unclear if that had any impact on Holmes’ pitch. It’s highly unlikely it was intentional, but the Orioles getting beaned by a Yankees pitcher is something they’ve become all too familiar with this season.
According to the YES Network, Yankees pitchers have hit 10 Orioles batters this season while Baltimore pitchers have plunked three New York hitters.
There could be more fireworks between the two sides with two more games left in the series before the All-Star break. Boone doesn’t want the bad blood to carry over, though.
“I hope not. I don’t think so,” Boone said. “We’re playing for too much to get caught up in that. We got to play well. We got to win ball games. Same for them.”
