Austin Capobianco, the New York Yankees fan who went viral for trying to rip the ball out of Mookie Betts’ glove in Game 4 of the World Series, will be back at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday night.
The 38-year-old was ejected from stadium after trying to force the ball out of the Dodgers star’s hand when he reached up towards the wall to catch Gleyber Torres’ first inning popup.
After the game, he spoke to ESPN who reported that he was told he is allowed to be back for Game 5 on Wednesday, where the Yankees are going to try and continue their fightback against the Dodgers with the series score at 3-1.
‘I know when I’m in the wrong and as soon as I did it, I was like, ‘Boys I’m out of here”. I patrol that wall and they know that,’ Capobianco, a Yankees season ticket holder, told ESPN.
‘We always joke about the ball in our area. Someone defends, someone knocks the ball. We talk about it. We’re willing to do this.’
Betts himself was dismissive of the incident when he spoke to reporters after his team were beaten at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night.
‘It’s irrelevant, we lost,’ he said. ‘Didn’t matter. ‘I didn’t even know he grabbed my hand, so [my hand] is perfectly fine.’
Betts’ teammate Tommy Edman had a much stronger reaction to the fan interference.
‘The guy was trying to yank his glove off and pulled on his wrist and it looked like he got ejected, which I’m glad he did. That was unacceptable for a fan.’
In the game itself, the Yankees kept the series alive with an 11-4 victory.
Anthony Volpe hit a Grand Slam to spark the hosts into life, with Austin Wells and Torres also homering.
Notably, this was not the first time this series that fans have interfered with a hit from Torres.
In the ninth inning of Game 1, Yankees fans were left furious after a Dodgers fan caught a potential go-ahead homer, which was ultimately ruled a double before New York lost a heartbreaker in extra innings.
It means the teams return to the Bronx Wednesday where the Yankees are bidding to become the first team in World Series history to force a Game 6 from 3-0.
If the Yankees win again tonight, the teams head back to California for the final two games of the series.
