Diamondbacks fan removed from win over Giants after controversial interference review

Yahoo

3 days ago

Arizona Diamondbacks left fielder Tim Tawa tried to make a grab at the wall on Monday night, but a fan beat him to it. (AP/Rick Scuteri)
An Arizona Diamondbacks fan was escorted out of Chase Field on Monday night after he interfered with what was nearly a home run for Christian Koss.
The San Francisco Giants infielder hit a deep fly ball to center in the eighth inning that went all the way to the wall and appeared to be on track to give him a solo home run. That would have tied the game up at the time, too. But as Diamondbacks outfielder Tim Tawa jumped up to try and make the catch at the wall, a man in a red Diamondbacks shirt reached out and actually made the grab above Tawa with his own glove. The fan seemed to lose his balance while making the grab, too, but he caught himself in time before flipping over the wall and falling down onto the field.
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Initially, it was ruled an out due to fan interference. But the Giants challenged the play, and it was later determined that there was no fan interference as Tawa wasn't actually in a position to make the catch. The fan didn't appear to make contact with Tawa, either, which helped back that argument up. But that led to Koss receiving a double instead of a home run, as the ball wasn't quite on track to cross the outfield wall. That kept the tying run off the board.
After everything, the fan in question was then escorted out of the stadium. Both Rafael Devers and Heliot Ramos then struck out after Koss, which ended the inning and kept the Diamondbacks out in front.
Arizona then added another run in the bottom of the inning after Eugenio Suárez hit a solo home run. That put them up by two and sealed the 4-2 win.
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That snapped a four-game losing skid from the Diamondbacks, who were just swept by the Miami Marlins before Monday night's series-opener with the Giants. They now sit at 42-42 on the year. The Giants, at 45-40, have also lost three straight and six of their last seven.
While the fan's interaction undoubtedly altered the game in the moment, the ball was short of the wall anyways, the Giants still had work to do to actually tie the game up, and they missed an opportunity to hit the game-tying run in even after the incident.