The very best kind of drama occurred this past week, when the Baltimore Orioles faced the New York Yankees. The series was filled with animosity and even had a bench-clearing brawl. The entire series was played in Yankee Stadium. As the Orioles took a thrilling 5-4 win, that fourth-inning fracas was the re-ignition of some serious bad blood between the two teams.
The most surprising player to be at the center of the action was young Orioles outfielder Heston Kjerstad. In the third, Kjerstad made a brilliant, gutsy steal of second base. His slide almost forced a collision with Yankees second baseman Pablo Reyes, who had to jump over Javy to make the catch on the throw. This moment quickly turned into a major on-field escalation that was capped off by both benches and bullpens clearing.
This new incident is reminiscent of an earlier confrontation in early July. Earlier that season, Kjerstad was beaned — intentionally or not — in the head by former Oriole Clay Holmes, raising tempers and rumors and setting off fireworks between the two sides. Following cutdown day, Kjerstad ended up on the concussion list. Although this happened on the field, the Orioles’ medical team had their eyes on him and were monitoring him throughout. He sure didn’t look injured after his recent foray into the crowd to catch the ball against the Yankees.
Despite the heated moments, Kjerstad downplayed the confrontation, stating, “We got tangled up there, emotions from both sides kind of went off. I don’t think it was too much.” Regardless of the outside noise, his focus on finding a way to help this team succeed through all the adversity is constant.
Unlike Reyes, Reyes made it very clear how he felt about the fight. “A couple words there that I felt like disrespected me in the heat of the moment,” he said. He later added, “Maybe at the beginning he thought I did it on purpose,” referring to Kjerstad’s aggressive base running.
Way to go, O’s terrific series win vs. safe Yankees! They won the series opener and series finale, winning both games by a single run. It was in the middle game that they were most thoroughly beaten, going down 15-3. Even Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde said his focus for the rest of the season was on winning series.
Hyde emphasized how crucial Kjerstad was to the team. His inspiring play and possible game-changing ability quickly returned him to become a top priority for both Hyde and his pupil. “Our goal is to win as many series as possible,” Hyde stated, indicating the team’s commitment to maintaining their competitive edge.
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