A squirrel ran into Jhostynxon Garcia's right leg as he stepped into the batter's box during his second plate appearance in a 1-0 game. The animal ran around the infield for about a minute before heading toward the crowd, causing a brief delay. Yankees starter Max Fried engaged with the squirrel, creating a small hole on the mound that the animal entered. First baseman Ben Rice moved away and said he did not want to touch the squirrel after it made a noise at him. Garcia expressed disbelief at the incident during his debut.
"I said, 'Really, that's going to happen to me in my MLB debut, that's unbelievable," Garcia told reporters of the moment through the team's translator.
"That's the first time it's happened to me," Fried told reporters. "My first reaction was, 'Don't do anything that might embarrass you.' I thought it was just going to run around, but it came straight to me and went in the little hole I created on the mound."
"I didn't want to touch that thing," Rice said. "The guys are giving me crap for it. 'Why are you scared of a squirrel?' I don't know where that thing's been. It made a little noise at me."
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