The Toronto Blue Jays won a thrilling victory last night with a three-run homer by Edwin Encarnacion that sent the 50,000 fans in the stands, into a state of elation. But it has been overshadowed today by the revolting behaviour of one fan.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Baltimore Orioles’ outfielder Hyun Soo Kim was running to catch a fly ball. The cameras captured the beer can spilling out near him after a fan threw it from the left-field stand. Team-mate Adam Jones ran over to join Kim, and began yelling at fans.
The Blue Jays went on, however, to win the wild card game at Toronto’s Rogers Centre 5-2 on the walk-off three-run homer in the 11th inning. While the victory has the team opening their American League Division Series tomorrow against the Texas Ranger in Arlington, today the focus was on damage-control and the hunt for the fan.
In a statement released earlier today, the Blue Jays expressed “extreme disappointment” for the incident, and offered “sincere apologies” to the Baltimore Orioles, its managers and players, and Major League Baseball.
“Throughout this season, we have witnessed an incredible level of fan engagement, with a passionate and loyal fan base that extends across Canada,” the statement reads.
“On the heels of one of the most competitive and exhilarating baseball games in our club’s history, it is extremely unfortunate that the irresponsible actions of one individual would detract from the game on the field, and tarnish an otherwise memorable night.”
The club discouraged anymore awful behavior with this statement: “We’re co-operating with the authorities to identify the individual involved, and the individual responsible is not welcome back to the stadium. We will also enact heightened security measures and alcohol policies that will ensure the fan experience and safety of everybody involved,” it stated.
Meanwhile, Toronto Police Supt. Scott Gilbert tweeted this morning, inviting the person who threw the can to turn himself or herself into police.
“Rogers Centre has excellent video surveillance. They have excellent images of the person who we believe was responsible for throwing that beer,” Gilbert later told CBC Toronto, explaining that police will use video to zero in on the seat location, and then go through the records from the scanned tickets to find out who purchased the seat.
“That person will be getting a knock at the door very soon from the Toronto Police Service. So my message as I said in the morning is: Do the right thing. You didn’t do it last night, but do the right thing today and turn yourself in to 52 Division.”
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