The New York Yankees are stumbling into the offseason with a miserable 2023 campaign that general manager Brian Cashman called a disaster. They’re also stumbling into bench-clearing incidents.
While the Yankees lost Sunday’s series finale with the Rays, 7-4, the game itself had its share of fireworks. Yankees pitchers hit Rays batters with the pitch four times, and Randy Arozarena was especially furious to take a 3-1 fastball from Albert Abreu off the elbow guard. Arozarena acted like he was going to throw his bat, and then he turned towards Abreu to have some words with the Yankees reliever. Benches would clear, but the teams were eventually separated without incident.
Tensions rise in the 8th after Albert Abreu plunks Randy Arozarena with an errant pitch on @PrimeVideo. pic.twitter.com/gOs5C3FvAb
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) August 27, 2023
Yet, Arozarena was clearly still heated about getting hit by the pitch. After he stole third in the inning (off a pitch that narrowly avoided hitting Harold Ramirez), Arozarena stared down Abreu as he went to retrieve his helmet. That led to Abreu shouting back at Arozarena, and benches cleared AGAIN.
Randy stole second and third after getting plunked and then the benches cleared again pic.twitter.com/QNBGD3yaAL
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) August 27, 2023
Like the initial incident, the teams were separated before anything got out of hand. But the best moment came courtesy of Yankees pitcher Tommy Kahnle. As both teams came running from the dugout and onto the field, Kahnle got a late start from the clubhouse and took a tumble on the dugout steps.
Kahnle tripped up the steps 😠pic.twitter.com/zoW4zkLmdd
— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) August 27, 2023
For someone falling down on stairs, Kahnle played it off so smoothly.
I’m glad that was caught on camera because MLB fans had plenty of jokes for the wipeout.