Jesus Sanchez Leaves Game After Fan Throws Baseball at Blue Jays Star
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To say what is going on for the Toronto Blue Jays this season regarding injuries is an understatement of the season. This is baseball, so injuries come with the territory, but what happened Sunday afternoon is not what this game is about.
The Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles were facing off at Camden Yards in Baltimore on Sunday and the day had already been trending horrendously for Toronto as they quickly fell behind 6-0, but the scoreboard has nothing to do with an act from a fan.
It was in the bottom of the sixth inning that the game came to a screeching halt as outfielder Jesus Sanchez dropped his glove before a pitch was thrown and was clutching his wrist in obvious pain, with a baseball lying next to him. The update was relayed by several reporters, including MLB.com's Jake Rill, who covers the Orioles.
Jesus Sanchez Leaves Game
Sánchez left game after this fan interaction, ball appears to hit him in arm/wrist.
— Underdog MLB (@UnderdogMLB) May 31, 2026
Orioles identified the fan and removed them from ballpark.pic.twitter.com/KMHKHWLAcC https://t.co/n5fkwtLr6O
Why would there be a baseball out there when nothing was in play? No one is sure. But Sanchez was pointing up to the stands when he was talking with his teammates, his skipper, and the Jays trainer. There was a police officer who rushed onto the field.
Sanchez had a long walk back to the dugout, and he immediately underwent precautionary X-Rays that came back negative, per Sportsnet, which was broadcasting the game. Fortunately it appears he only suffered is a wrist contusion.
Jacob Calvin Meyer, who covers the Orioles for The Baltimore Sun on X (formerly Twitter) ventured into right field and spoke to eyewitnesses to what happened. Turns out it might have been an accident.
Fans told Meyer that a young fan saw Sanchez flapping his glove as to indicate that he might want to play catch. Those fans also said that the young fan threw the ball after Sanchez turned around, leading to the injury. Meyer reported that the young fan was escorted from the game.
Sportsnet confirmed Meyer's report. It turns out that Sanchez just turned away at the wrong time and didn't realize the ball had been thrown.
After Sunday's game, the Blue Jays are off to Atlanta to begin a three-game series with the Atlanta Braves.
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Maddy Dickens resides in Loveland, Colorado. She grew up with two older brothers, where their lives revolved around sports. She earned a master's degree in business management from Tarleton State University while simultaneously playing basketball and competing in rodeo at the collegiate level. She successfully parlayed a reserve national championship into a professional rodeo career and now stays involved in upper-level athletics by writing for On SI on several different MLB teams' pages, along with some NCAA sites.