The Yankees got the kind of jolt they badly needed Wednesday night, rolling past the Angels 6-3 with a five-run outburst in the 10th inning. Ben Rice was part of the offensive push, finishing with two hits and an RBI. But the night also took a frightening turn in the sixth inning, when a foul ball turned into a medical scare behind the first-base side of the Yankees’ dugout.
Rice was up against Reid Detmers and got to a 2-2 pitch by driving a line shot straight into the camera well. The ball came off his bat so hard that the game stopped instantly, with everyone in the ballpark looking toward the area where it landed.
It had struck a photographer in the head.
The scene at Angel Stadium was serious enough to halt play for about 10 minutes. The injured person was eventually able to walk to a cart on their own, though they were wearing a neck brace as they left the field. Yankees medical personnel moved in to help right away, and Rice made a point of checking on the photographer before play continued, shaking their hand as they departed.
Rice said after the game, “Very relieved,” Rice said after the game. “I saw it, he definitely was not ready for any kind of impact there, he was looking the other direction.”
An Angels spokesperson later said the injured person was “OK” and was getting further medical treatment.
Moments like that are a reminder of how fast the game can turn dangerous, especially when a ball is launched with that kind of speed from such close range. Even with a glove, there’s not much time to react, and for someone focused through a camera lens, the danger is even greater.
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Herrera is expected to help stabilize the catching inventory in the Pirates minor league system, giving the organization some insurance behind the plate. Moves like this do not usually draw much attention on their own, but they can say plenty about how a club wants to protect itself over a long season, especially at a position where bodies can disappear quickly. [Read more 🡒]
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For Pittsburgh, the question now is less about whether White has re-entered the conversation and more about how to handle the next roster crunch. Adding him to the 40-man roster would be a way to keep him out of Rule 5 Draft risk, even if he is not yet ready for a big-league call-up. It is the sort of decision teams prefer to make before the deadline pressures pile up, and it gives the Pirates a small but meaningful test of how much they still believe in a player whose stock looked far more uncertain not long ago. [Read more 🡒]
Pirates Suddenly Have A Bullpen Problem At The Worst Time
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Wilber Dotel also got the call back up as part of the same round of roster shuffling, while Evan Sisk was optioned to Indianapolis. The timing is less than ideal for a Pirates team trying to keep its late-game options intact, and Yates injury leaves the staff waiting to see how deep the bullpen hole becomes before the next stretch of games really settles in. [Read more 🡒]