Red Sox manager Alex Cora found humor in fans at Fenway Park shining their cell phone lights Wednesday night while the Tigers batted in the seventh inning of Boston’s 7-1 win over Detroit.
Tigers skipper Ron Gardenhire wasn’t as amused by the fans’ antics, though, and wondered after the game why the umpires didn’t intervene sooner.
“You ever tried to hit with a light like that in your face? It’s not supposed to happen,” Gardenhire told reporters, per ESPN.com. “The umpires should have, in my opinion, stopped it right away. They see it happen — it’s right in dead-center field.
“The fans are just having fun. I get it. But when it’s in dead-center field, my hitters are looking right into it. It’s dangerous. It’s very dangerous, if you’ve ever been trying to hit with a light in your face. So, we just couldn’t let that happen.”
The strange scenario occurred in the seventh inning and really picked up after Matt Barnes struck out Niko Goodrum for the second out. Nicholas Castellanos, who stepped to the plate, talked with umpire Mike DiMuro and Gardenhire emerged from the dugout, at which point the game was briefly delayed until fans turned off their cell phone lights.
Cora joked about the incident after the game, calling the tactic a “good weapon” performed by “smart fans.” But it obviously didn’t sit too well with the Tigers, who have had enough problems with the Red Sox in the first games of the teams’ series in Boston.
