A fan at Rate Field in Chicago was hospitalized on Wednesday, May 13, after he fell into the visitors’ bullpen during a game between the Kansas City Royals and the hometown White Sox.
The fan received medical attention at the scene and was carried off the field on a gurney, delaying the game briefly in the top of the fourth inning. He was taken to a local hospital for treatment and news on his condition was not immediately clear.
The incident occurred during the bottom of the third, according to ESPN, when video shows the fan standing to follow the path of the ball on a Chase Meidroth sacrifice fly. He then appeared to tumble over the railing as the White Sox scored a run.
The game continued until the top half of the inning when umpires were alerted to the unfolding situation and called both managers out of the dugouts to explain to them what happened.
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“Tonight’s game was delayed in the fourth inning to allow White Sox personnel to treat a fan who had fallen in the visiting team’s bullpen,” the White Sox said in a statement. “The fan has been transported to a local hospital for additional treatment.”
None of the Royals relievers were near the area where the fan fell, the Kansas City Star reported.
“From what I’ve heard, the fan was kind of standing up on the edge of the bullpen, and kind of just went over,” Royals reliever Nick Mears told reporters after the game. “Then saw him lying there.”
Mears, 29, also said a security guard provided an update on how the fan was doing.
“We were talking with the security guard down in the bullpen at the time,” he said. “And he said that by the time he got to the hospital, he was in much better condition.”
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Mears added, “Baseball is just a game. Obviously human lives are something different. Just created space for all of the people to come in and try to help him out. Making sure that he had the best care that he could get in that moment was kind of our priority.”
Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino, who was at his position when the fan fell, added that the players who were not in the bullpen didn’t seem to know what was happening.
“There was a little bit of talk about it in the dugout, but we really had no idea what was going on,” Pasquantino, 28, said. “So I don’t know what’s going on now, but I hope the guy is OK.”
The White Sox ultimately won the game, 6-5, for their fourth consecutive victory.
