The two Yankees fans who were ejected from Game 4 of the World Series after prying a foul ball out of the glove of Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts said they had a plan in place and were ready to enact it.
Austin Capobianco and his friend, John Peter, grabbed Betts’ glove and pulled the ball out as the Dodgers star jumped up the wall and initially caught Gleyber Torres’ foul ball in the first inning at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday.
“We always joke about the ball in our area,” Capobianco, 38, a Yankees season ticket holder, told ESPN at a local bar after the game. “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.”
Torres was ruled out by the right-field umpire on fan interference.
Capobianco and Peter were escorted out of Yankee Stadium — but said they were informed they would be allowed back for Game 5 in the Bronx on Wednesday.
“I know when I’m in the wrong and as soon as I did it, I was like, ‘Boys, I’m out of here,’” Capobianco said. “I patrol that wall and they know that.”
In the wild scene captured on camera, one of the fans was seen grabbing Betts’ wrist while clawing for the ball.
Darren Capobianco, who is the brother of Austin, told The Athletic that Betts was “swearing at us.”
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The eight-time MLB All-Star was visibly stymied in the moment but cooled off after the Dodgers’ 11-4 loss.
“When it comes to the person in play, it doesn’t matter,” Betts said after the Dodgers couldn’t complete a sweep of the Yankees. “We lost. It’s irrelevant. I’m fine. He’s fine. Everything’s cool. We lost the game and that’s what I’m kind of focused on. We got to turn the page and get ready for tomorrow.”
At the time, the Dodgers had a two-run lead at the time after Freddie Freeman’s two-run homer.
Freeman became the first player in MLB history to hit a home run in six straight World Series games.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Dodgers rookie pitcher Ben Casparius said of the fan interference, “kind of set the tone.”
It came after a separate fan incident in Game 1 at Dodger Stadium, when Torres hit a fly ball to left field and a fan reached over the wall and caught the ball.
The umpire assessed Torres a double.
Game 5 is set for Wednesday in the Bronx.