Before the Toronto Blue Jays celebrated a 5-2 win on Edwin Encarnacion’s walk-off three-run homer in the 11th inning of Tuesday’s American League Wild Card Game, a fan at Toronto’s Rogers Centre caused a stir by throwing a can of beer at Baltimore Orioles left fielder Hyun Soo Kim in the seventh inning.
The Blue Jays issued a statement Wednesday and apologized to the entire Orioles organization for the incident:
The incident occurred while Kim was catching a fly ball off the bat of Melvin Upton Jr. for the third out of the inning, at which point an object landed on the left side of Kim.
Toronto police have released a photo of the alleged suspect, via the Toronto Star:
Per ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick, Orioles manager Buck Showalter walked from the dugout to left field to “register his displeasure” with the umpiring crew.
Orioles center fielder Adam Jones, who pointed and yelled toward the stands after the play, criticized the fan for his or her actions, per Crasnick:
Someone threw a beer down at my player. That’s about as pathetic as it gets between the lines. You don’t do that. I don’t care how passionate you think you are. Yell, cuss, scream, tell us we’re horrible. We get that. We’re the opposition. We completely understand that. To throw something at a player, that’s as pathetic as it gets.
Toronto City Councilor Norm Kelly took to Twitter to ask anyone with information about the incident to contact the police.
The Orioles and Blue Jays played a thriller to determine who would face the Texas Rangers in the American League Division Series. The Blue Jays tied the score at 2-2 in the fifth inning, which is how it remained until Encarnacion sent everyone in Toronto home happy.
Unfortunately, a fan’s action in the Rogers Centre stands took away from what should have been a great moment for the Blue Jays and the city.
Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com