A fan in left field just cost the Yankees a run in an elimination game.
Anthony Volpe drove a 1-0 sinker to left field with two outs in the sixth inning of Game 3 of the American League Division Series against the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday at Yankee Stadium. The stadium went nuts thinking it was a two-run, game-tying home run.
Instead, replay showed a fan reached out and the ball hit his outstretched arms before falling over the left-field fence. Underneath, Rays' left fielder Victor Mesa Jr. was trying to catch the ball and immediately complained to the officials.
After a replay review, it was ruled fan interference and a double. The Yankees pulled within 4-3 and Spencer Jones struck out to strand Volpe, the tying run on second base.
The replay
officials said it was "definitively determined the spectator interfered with the ball over the field of play. The ball would not have left the playing field nor would it have been caught."
After replay review, the Yankees pull within a run on Anthony Volpe's RBI double! pic.twitter.com/6Fua0LNVBQ
— MLB (@MLB) October 8, 2026
Yankee fans have seen this before, but with the opposite result.
On Oct. 9, 1996 in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series against the Baltimore Orioles, 12-year-old Jeffrey Maier reached over the right-field wall at the old Yankee Stadium and pulled Derek Jeter's eighth-inning fly ball into the stands. Umpire Rich Garcia called it a home run, which tied the game. Orioles right fielder Tony Tarasco said he was about to catch it.
There was no replay to fix it. The Yankees won in 11 innings on a Bernie Williams homer, took the series and won the World Series.
Maier gave the Yankees a home run. Wednesday's fan took one away.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fan interference robs Yankees of home run – 30 years after Jeffrey Maier
