Fastball

Line Drive Gets Stuck Inside Green Monster Light Bulb During Red Sox-Royals Game

Fenway Park's historic charm led to a viral mishap Wednesday night, as the ball wound up lodged inside the 'Out' light on the famed left field wall.
Sam Connon|
Line Drive Gets Stuck Inside Green Monster Light Bulb During Red Sox-Royals Game
Line Drive Gets Stuck Inside Green Monster Light Bulb During Red Sox-Royals Game

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Boston Red SoxKansas City Royals

The Green Monster has been known to keep well-hit line drives in-play for 111 years, but it doesn't usually swallow them up.

With two down in the top of the second in the Boston Red Sox's game against the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday, center fielder Kyle Isbel sent a 94-mile-per-hour fastball to the opposite field. Left fielder Masataka Yoshida leapt at the warning track to try and secure the out, but the ball sailed right past his glove.

Yoshida, assuming it had careened off the 37-foot wall, spun around looking for the ball. It was not in the field of play, though.

Instead, the ball had gone directly into the first 'Out' light bulb towards the bottom of the historic wall, immediately going viral.

Yoshida had to fish around inside the light bulb once the play had been called dead, resulting in a ground-rule double for Isbel. Third baseman Matt Duffy had come around to score on the play, but the umpires ultimately sent him back to third.

Pitcher Nick Pivetta forced a fly out the very next batter, preventing Duffy and Isbel from crossing home plate. As a result, the light breaking may have saved the Red Sox at least one run.

Boston still ended the frame down 1-0, but first baseman Triston Casas knotted up the score with a solo home run in the bottom of the second.

The Red Sox went on to win 4-3, jumping ahead in the four-game series 2-1. The run erased by the light, as it turned out, wound up making the difference.

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Sam Connon
SAM CONNON

Sam Connon is a staff writer covering baseball for “Fastball on SI.’’ He previously covered UCLA Athletics for On SI’s All Bruins site, and is a UCLA graduate, with his work there as a sports columnist receiving awards from the College Media Association and Society of Professional Journalists. Connon also wrote for On SI’s New England Patriots site, Patriots Country, and he was on the Patriots and Boston Red Sox beats at Prime Time Sports Talk. Sam lives in Boston.

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