BALTIMORE -- When the Orioles and Yankees get together, there’s always the potential for tensions to flare during a heated American League East rivalry.
It happened again Wednesday night at Camden Yards.
The benches cleared during the bottom of the fourth inning of Baltimore’s 5-4 win over New York following a steal of second base by the Orioles’ Heston Kjerstad. As Kjerstad slid into the bag, Yankees second baseman Pablo Reyes went leaping into the air to try to catch a high throw from catcher Austin Wells.
It led to a bit of an awkward landing for Reyes, who unintentionally got tangled up with Kjerstad’s head upon returning to the ground. The way Reyes came down was “out of my control,” he said, while trying to prevent the ball from being airmailed to the outfield.
"Especially on a play like that, you're just trying to make a play there,” Reyes said via interpreter Marlon Abreu. “It happens in the game when you're competing sometimes. It's out of your control sometimes, the intensity that can come up.”
Once Kjerstad and Reyes separated, Kjerstad visibly got upset and said something to Reyes.
"There were a couple words there that probably, it felt like they suspected me in the heat of the moment there,” Reyes said. “But later on, then it kind of toned down from there."
Kjerstad didn’t elaborate much on the situation, stating multiple times the two simply got “tangled up” on the play.
“Emotions from both sides kind of went up,” Kjerstad said. “Didn’t think it was too much.”
The minor confrontation still sparked the arrival of both teams, as players sprinted onto the field, with speedy Orioles backup infielder Jorge Mateo among the first to show up.
“I had somebody run in front of me, so I didn’t exactly see what happened,” Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde said. “I didn’t think it was much.”
The bullpens cleared as well, and both teams had some heated discussion. However, things quickly dissipated from there as players retreated and the game resumed.
“Just a high throw, and Pablo jumped and bumped him. So I don't think anything more than that,” New York skipper Aaron Boone said. “It was really not that big a deal. I think it was probably a misunderstanding.”
It’s not the first time Kjerstad has been at the center of a benches-clearing incident between these teams. On July 12, 2024, Kjerstad was hit in the head by a pitch during a game at Camden Yards, which was followed by a more heated fracas.
The latest skirmish wasn’t quite up to that level, considering nobody got physical or too angered as it didn’t take long for everybody to trickle off the field.
"It was a weird bench-clearing. The guy's jumping up to make a play,” Yankees slugger Aaron Judge said. “I don't know what he's all mad about.”
Does Judge view the event as something that comes as part of the rivalry between these two teams?
“I don't know about a rivalry,” Judge said. “We're just out there to play ball."