The Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees weren’t the only ones to take the field Friday night at Fenway Park.
A small bird made its presence felt on several occasions throughout Game 1 of the American League Division Series between the Red Sox and Yankees. While the bird was minding its own business for the bulk of the contest, it nearly made an impact on the game in the top half of the seventh inning.
With the Red Sox clinging to a three-run lead, Aaron Judge laced a low liner that nearly struck the bird before being trapped in center field by Jackie Bradley Jr. Bradley. He evidently has tremendous foresight, as he was anticipating a run-in with the bird once he noticed where it was making its post.
“I actually thought about before the inning even started. He was directly in front of me,” Bradley told the media prior to Game 2. “I’m like, ‘What are you doing?’ I just got a feeling it’s going to be a ball hit right there, and I’m going to have to dive. I’m telling you, four plays later — actually, it was two batters later, Aaron hits a ball right there. And I’m like, the first thing off the bat, all I can think about is, ‘Man, that bird is about to get hit.’”
The bird clearly is no baseball fan, as any person with any knowledge of today’s game would know to keep its head on a swivel with Judge at the plate. But luckily for the winged spectator, it escaped a disaster situation.
And luckily for the Red Sox, they hung on for a 5-4 win, despite a bizarre obstacle getting in their way.
