Richmond, Virginia, might be the home of the minor league baseball team the Flying Squirrels, but a squirrel made its major league debut flying around a game between the Baltimore Orioles and Detroit Tigers.
A black squirrel forced a game delay when it scurried around Comerica Park Monday night.
MLB.com said the rodent started running on the warning track and refused to go out an open fence.
Then it went into short left field, checked out the foul lines, and then went for a third-base meeting with coach Buck Britton, who didn’t have peanuts or Cracker Jacks, but did toss some seeds to the furry fan.
During the seventh-inning stretch, the stadium’s entire grounds crew came out trying to trap the squirrel but to no avail. It then checked out the right-field corner, eventually jumping into the glove of Orioles outfielder Leody Taveras, much to the player’s surprise.
The squirrel’s trip around the ballpark wasn’t quite done. It jumped out of the glove when Taveras tried to lift it. The animal had one last jaunt around the warning track when one member of the crew was able to wrap it in a towel and remove it from the field.
Tigers play-by-play announcer Jason Binetti summed up the game between the Orioles, Tigers and squirrel perfectly.
“We’re six innings deep, it’s 8-5, this game has been a zoo,” he said.
MLB put the 12-minute chase, complete with the announcers’ play-by-play, on YouTube for those who missed it live.
Orioles manager Craig Albernaz talked about it during his post-game press conference.
“The whole squirrel thing was nuts,” Albernaz said. “I mean, at one point, I thought he was going to go into the batter’s box, see what was going on. He had a great view of the game. I think Bill Miller, the home-plate umpire, really stole the show with getting everyone out there, and then I had no idea Leody tried to glove-flip it or catch it in right field. I didn’t see that video until after the game. Nice job, Leody.”
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