Rays Sweep Yankees After Fan Interference Turns Volpe's Tying Homer Into a Double

The Tampa Bay Rays completed a sweep of the New York Yankees on Wednesday night, winning Game 3 of the AL Division Series 4-3 at Yankee Stadium. But the final score will not be what anyone remembers about this game.

In the sixth inning, with George Lombard Jr. on first, Yankees second baseman Anthony Volpe connected on a drive to left field that looked for all the world like a game-tying two-run home run. The stadium erupted. Then the umpiring crew called for a review.

The verdict stunned the home crowd: fan interference. A fan in a Yankees jacket had reached beyond the fence to try for the ball, and the crew ruled that the interference prevented a catch. What had been a tying homer became an RBI double. The score stayed 4-3, and it stayed there.

The fan was escorted out of the stadium, but the damage was done. The Yankees never tied the game, and the Rays walked out of the Bronx with a sweep.

The play

Replays showed the fan leaning over the left-field fence, glove reaching into the field of play as the ball descended. Under the rules, when a spectator reaches into the field and touches a ball in play, the umpires may rule the batter out or place the runners where they judge they would have reached. Here, the crew decided the interference cost the defense a catch and reduced the would-be homer to an RBI double, scoring Lombard from first but keeping Volpe at second.

Yankees fans will have a long time to think about what might have been. A 4-4 tie in the sixth inning of an elimination game is a different baseball game entirely. Instead, the inning ended with the Yankees still trailing, and the season ended a few innings later.

History's shadow

The play carried an unavoidable echo. The 1996 postseason is now 30 years in the rearview, and the name Jeffrey Maier remains part of Yankees lore, a fan interference call that went New York's way in the 1996 AL Championship Series. Wednesday night was the mirror image: interference by a home fan that cost the Yankees a season.

What comes next

The Rays, the top seed in the American League, advance with unusual efficiency. They now await the winner of the other AL Division Series between the Chicago White Sox and the Cleveland Guardians. The White Sox lead that series, and Cleveland forced a Game 4 to be played Thursday night.

For the Yankees, the sweep ends a season of high expectations with an October defined by a single overeager reach over a fence.