Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts makes a catch in foul territory as fans interfere in the first inning of Game 4 of the World Series on Tuesday night in New York. Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times

There is fan interference and there is misdemeanor assault, and what happened to Mookie Betts of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the right-field corner of Yankee Stadium in the first inning of Tuesday night’s 11-4 World Series Game 4 loss to New York might qualify as assault.

“I’ve never seen anything like that,” said Betts, frustrated by the Dodgers’ inability to complete a four-game sweep but happy to have avoided serious injury on the play. “But there’s always a first time for a first.”

Gleyber Torres led off the bottom of the first with a fly to right that drifted into foul territory. Betts, a six-time Gold Glove Award-winning outfielder, leaped at the high padded wall and made the catch between two Yankees fans, one wearing a road gray jersey and the other wearing a home white pinstriped jersey.

But as Betts tried to secure the ball, the fan in the road jersey – identified by the Athletic’s Brendan Kuty as Austin Capobianco, 38, of Connecticut – reached into Betts’ glove in an attempt to pry the ball loose.

The other fan, identified as John Peter by ESPN’s Jesse Rogers, then grabbed the wrist of Betts’ throwing hand and yanked on it so Betts couldn’t grab the ball, which squirted out of the glove and onto the dirt warning track. Right-field umpire Mark Carlson immediately called fan interference, and Torres was out.

Capobianco and Rogers were ejected and escorted from their seats by stadium security, exchanging high-fives and at least one hug with applauding fans as they walked up the aisle.

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They told ESPN that stadium security told them that they could return for Game 5 on Wednesday, but the team later issued a ban.  Capobianco is a season-ticker holder who said he hopes he’ll be able to retain the seat next season.

“Yeah, that looked ridiculous from my perspective,” Dodgers shortstop Tommy Edman said. “The guy was trying to yank his glove off, pulling at his wrist. … It looked like he got ejected and I’m glad he did. I’ve never seen anything like that. That was unacceptable.”

Betts played his first six years with the Boston Red Sox, on the opposite side of one of baseball’s fiercest rivalries, so he’s used to being scorned in the Bronx.

But never in his 11 major league seasons has he seen fans take such aggressive actions toward a player.

Though he was clearly angry at the fans after the play, he did not harbor ill when the game was over.

“It doesn’t matter, we lost, it’s irrelevant,” Betts said of the play. “I’m fine. (The fan) is fine. Everything’s cool. We lost the game, and that’s what I’m focused on. We gotta turn the page and get ready” for Game 5.

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Ben Casparius, who threw the first two innings of a bullpen game Tuesday night for the Dodgers, allowing one run and one hit, walking three and striking out one, grew up as a Red Sox fan in Westport, Connecticut, and said he attended 50-60 games in Yankee Stadium as a kid, always sporting his Red Sox gear.

Was he surprised by what happened to Betts?

“No, not at all,” Casparius said. “I think it was an interesting moment, just being a couple of pitches into the game. And obviously there’s a history with this team and (Mookie) playing for the Red Sox as long as he did. It was kind of like a ‘here we go’ moment early on.”

The Dodgers had a “here we go again” moment in the top of the first when Betts doubled into the right-field corner with one out and Freddie Freeman lined a two-run homer into the right-field seats for a 2-0 lead.

Freeman hit a two-run homer in the first inning of Monday night’s 4-2 Game 3 victory.

But the Yankees scored once in the second, and shortstop Anthony Volpe crushed a poorly placed first-pitch slider from reliever Daniel Hudson into the left-field seats for a two-out grand slam and a 5-2 lead.

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The Dodgers scored twice in the fifth to trim the deficit to 5-4, but New York catcher Austin Wells blasted a solo homer into the second deck in right field in the sixth for a 6-4 lead.

The Yankees then blew the game open with a five-run eighth off Brent Honeywell, a rally that was highlighted by Torres’ three-run homer to right-center field.

Struggling Yankees slugger Aaron Judge capped the rally with an RBI single to left after walking, getting hit by a pitch, reaching on an error and flying to center in his first four plate appearances.

 

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