Fan Throws Beer At Orioles’ Hyun Soo Kim In 5-2 AL Wild Card Loss To Blue Jays

The Baltimore Orioles were infuriated with their 5-2 road loss to the Toronto Blue Jays in Tuesday night’s American League Wild Card game, although one particular incident during the matchup gave them an added reason to be upset.

Fan Throws Beer At Orioles’ Hyun Soo Kim In 5-2 AL Wild Card Loss To Blue Jays

In the seventh inning, with the score tied 2-2, Orioles left fielder Hyun Soo Kim was nearly hit in the head by a beer can while successfully making a catch on a fly ball near the wall.

Kim’s teammate, center fielder Adam Jones, immediately rushed over to the wall and began angrily shouting at the fan, although he and Kim– who is from South Korea– were both taunted with racial slurs. Jones later said he hopes the fan is arrested an prosecuted for his/her behavior.

“That’s about as pathetic as it gets,’’ said Jones, who angrily gestured towards the fans, before the umpiring crew came out and security were summoned to the stands.

“You don’t do that. I don’t care how passionate you are. Yell. Cuss. Scream. Say we suck. We’re horrible. We get it. We’re the opponent. We completely understand that.

“I hope they find the guy and press charges. He’s not looking. You could hit him in the back of the head and you have no idea what could happen. That’s a full beer that’s being thrown.

“Throw an octopus. Throw hats.’’

Jones said he did not see exactly who threw the can.

Orioles manager Buck Showalter also came out to the field, angered by the incident, and ushered Jones back into play after he noticed how upset his player had become over the fan’s actions.

“I don’t like it. Nobody likes it,” said Showalter. “I’m sure the Toronto Blue Jays don’t like it. It’s tough when you have that many people in the ballpark and one person does something that reflects poorly on all of them. It can happen in any ballpark. I don’t like anything that puts our guys in harm’s way, just like [Blue Jays manager] John Gibbons wouldn’t at our place.”

The Jays had an unpleasant incident in last year’s postseason, too. Fans threw bottles onto the field in Game 5 of the Division Series against Texas, causing an interruption of play, before order was restored.

Edwin Encarnacion blasted a three-run homer in the bottom of the 11th inning to lead Toronto to Tuesday’s victory. In a battle of AL East rivals, between two teams that finished with identical 89-73 regular-season records, the Blue Jays survived. Toronto will next face the AL West champion Texas Rangers in a best-of-five rematch series that begins in Arlington on Thursday.

This marked the 10th extra-inning, winner-take-all postseason game, and Encarnacion’s big hit was the first walk-off homer in such a game since the Yankees defeated the Red Sox, 6-5 in Game 7 of the 2003 AL Championship Series.

Toronto’s rally began when Devon Travis came through with a one-out single to left field. Josh Donaldson followed with a single to set up Encarnacion’s blast. After that three-run homer, the crowd started chanting, “Eddie, Eddie” while the Blue Jays stormed the field.

Orioles closer Zach Britton, who posted the lowest ERA in the Majors, shockingly never got the chance to take the mound.

“He was fine,” Showalter said of Britton. “I considered a lot of things during the course of the game, but our guys did a good job getting us to that point. We just couldn’t finish it off. Yeah, he was available.”

Encarnacion’s home run went a projected 440 feet, tied for his third longest this season and the seventh longest in the postseason during the Statcast™ era, which dates to last season.

TORONTO, ON – OCTOBER 04: Hyun Soo Kim #25 of the Baltimore Orioles reacts after grounding out in the sixth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays during the American League Wild Card game at Rogers Centre on October 4, 2016 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images)