Yankees Closer Clay Holmes Reflects On Drilling Orioles Outfielder

A huge bench-clearing fight broke out at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on Friday night, and the Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees had different takeaways.

Yankees closer Clay Holmes drilled outfielder Heston Kjerstad right in the helmet in the bottom of the ninth inning. Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde checked on his player and shouted at the New York dugout. Both sides exited their respective benches, and there was more shouting and shoving. Hyde was ejected, and the Bronx Bombers closed out their 4-1 win without further incident.

According to the YES Network, Yankees pitchers have hit 10 Orioles batters compared to three hits on New York sluggers. That history might have influenced Hyde’s actions, but it was a rainy and humid Friday in Baltimore, which Gerrit Cole and Holmes highlighted.

“It was one of those where it’s unfortunate. You never try to hit somebody in the head,” Holmes told reporters, per YES Network. “Hope Heston’s OK from that. Definitely hope he’s all good (Saturday) but it’s just one of those things where conditions weren’t great. I was trying to throw a front-door sinker there, and it just cut. The movement wasn’t my normal sinker, just kind of pulled it, and it cut and it ran up and in on him. Definitely wasn’t trying to do anything, hurt him, hit. But like I said, hope everything is good.”

Holmes agreed with Cole that the muggy conditions made it hard to grip the ball, which might have caused the closer’s incident with Kjerstad.

‘It’s so wet out there (Friday),” Cole told reporters, per Brendan Kuty of The Athletic. “… Anybody knows it was tough to grip the baseball (Friday). With that said, the guy got hit in the head. So, it’s understandable that Brandon is pissed. He’s defending his players.”

Yankees manager Aaron Boone hoped the events of the final inning wouldn’t leak into the middle matchup of the series, but it’s clear tensions are high between sides fighting for first in the American League East.