Red Sox
“It made a little noise at me.”
Jhostynxon Garcia’s MLB debut was one to remember, but not because of something he did.
When the Red Sox rookie took the plate for the second time in his career in Friday’s 1-0 win over the Yankees, a critter wanted to say hi to him. A squirrel ran into Garcia’s right leg as he stepped into the batter’s box.
Garcia didn’t recognize the squirrel, but members of the Yankees did. Yankees starting pitcher Max Fried engaged in a brief staredown with the squirrel as the game was delayed for a moment.
Eventually, Garcia took notice of the squirrel.
“I said, ‘Really, that’s going to happen to me in my MLB debut, that’s unbelievable,” Garcia told reporters of the moment through the team’s translator.
The squirrel seemed to act as if it had the infield at Yankee Stadium all to itself. It ran around the diamond for roughly a minute before breaking away toward the crowd.
As Garcia was in disbelief over the moment, members of the Yankees were in defense mode with the squirrel running around.
“That’s the first time it’s happened to me,” Fried told reporters. “My first reaction was, ‘Don’t do anything that might embarrass you.’ I thought it was just going to run around, but it came straight to me and went in the little hole I created on the mound.”
Yankees first baseman Ben Rice moved out of the way for the squirrel, with his reaction to the event going viral on social media.
“I didn’t want to touch that thing,” Rice said. “The guys are giving me crap for it. ‘Why are you scared of a squirrel?’ I don’t know where that thing’s been. It made a little noise at me.”
Fried had a friendlier interaction with the squirrel, but he wanted the critter to get moving, too.
“At one point, I think I just said, ‘OK, buddy, let’s go,’” Fried said. “He just did his thing. It’s definitely a little strange, but it’s all in good fun.”
The squirrel’s running around the diamond didn’t turn into any sort of rally moment for either team. Garcia walked later in the at-bat, but didn’t score. Boston eventually scored the game’s only run in the seventh inning.
Still, the squirrel stole the show during baseball’s biggest rivalry as both teams are battling each other for playoff position.
“Somebody’s going to make a shirt out of it and make a lot of money tomorrow,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said.
The Red Sox’ social media team also had fun with the moment, posting an image of the squirrel with the caption “W” after they secured the win in a post on X.
Sign up for Red Sox updates⚾
Get breaking news and analysis delivered to your inbox during baseball season.