The Tampa Bay Rays got back from their historic trip to Cuba on Wednesday morning, and after a bit of a travel delay, returned to baseball as usual that evening. Last night, during the seventh inning of their game against the Pirates, an older fan reportedly ran onto the field in Bradenton, cursed at them in Spanish, and threw either a soda and a beer (or two beers, as some have reported) into the dugout. The Tampa Bay Times reports that the aggression was a response to their trip to Cuba to play in front of Raul Castro and President Obama.
“It was a Cuba thing,” Rays RHP Jake Odorizzi said. “I don’t speak Spanish too well. … I think it was a Cuban person, frustrated about the politics of it, I guess. He threw two beer cans. Nobody got hit. Nobody did anything. Maybe some guys got wet. It was a Cuba thing.”
Apparently, the man appeared to be in his 60's and after yelling obscenities at them, he tossed an aluminum bottle as well as a can into the dugout before he was apprehended. Nobody was hurt, but the beer “exploded on the back wall.”
Rays third base coach Charlie Montoyo wrapped him up relatively easily after he ran onto the field:
“I just saw him throwing stuff to the dugout and then I realized his age, so I was just holding him and I was telling him, I realized he speaks Spanish, telling him to relax,” Montoyo said. “I didn’t hear what he was yelling, I just saw the two things and then I was holding him. He smelled like beer or rum or something. … To me it was an old person drunk, so I felt bad for him.”
Per the report, the man has been arrested and charged with trespassing, causing affray, and assault.
