Accident in stands puts somber tone on Cubs’ loss to Pirates
PITTSBURGH — Even though the Pirates beat the Cubs 4-3 after a seventh-inning comeback Wednesday, the mood at PNC Park was somber because of what happened while the go-ahead runs crossed the plate.
A male fan fell out of the front row of the right-field seats and tumbled roughly 20 feet to the warning track. He lay motionless on the ground until the play was over, and that's when medical staff from both teams ran out to assist. He was taken away on a stretcher and the game resumed after a roughly 10-minute delay.
The Pirates released a statement saying the spectator was transported to a nearby hospital and no further information was available. Anyone who saw video of the fall or even the aftermath could tell it was a very serious situation.
Pittsburgh manager Derek Shelton, a Gurnee native, did not take any question about the game itself during his postgame news conference.
“Even though it's 350 feet away or whatever it is, the fact of how it went down, and then laying motionless while the play's going on,” Shelton said. “Craig (Counsell) saw it, I saw it, we both got out there (telling umpires to stop the game). It's extremely unfortunate, that's an understatement.”
No Cubs outfielders were particularly close to the incident. As it happened, right fielder Kyle Tucker was running forward, chasing the ball that went for a 2-run double. Tucker left the clubhouse quickly and did not speak to reporters.
“Thinking about his family and him right now. Obviously scary,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “I don't think we knew what we saw. All we saw was somebody laying on the warning track, and you know that's not good.”
The play itself was a well-placed groundball to the shortstop side of second base by Andrew McCutchen. Headed almost perfectly between Dansby Swanson and Nico Hoerner, both players dove for the ball, which was going to be a hit either way. But as Swanson slid to try to keep it on the infield, he ended up kicking it into right field, and the two runners on base both scored.
“I don't think there was going to be a play to any of the bases, but just trying to keep the ball in (the infield) and unfortunately kind of slid and hockey-goalied it to right field,” Swanson said. “Something, obviously, that doesn't happen too often.”
Video suggested the fan may have jumped out his seat in excitement as the ball rolled into the outfield. Not long after, Swanson, Hoerner and the rest of the Cubs fielders were on a knee watching EMTs go to work on the field. At one point, a second fan jumped from the lower bleachers in center field to check on the injured spectator.
“I honestly didn't really see anything,” Swanson said. “I just saw kind of like the urgency in Counsell's face when he came out. I mean, it's definitely a humble reminder; the gratitude that we get to play this game and there's so many folks out there that obviously support us and come to games and are a big reason why we are able to do what we do.
“It's obviously tough and puts things in perspective and makes you want to tell everybody you love them and never take any of that for granted.”
After falling behind 2-0, the Cubs rallied with 3 runs in the fifth. Following a single by Swanson and walk to Jon Berti, Pirates starter Carmen Mlodzinski gave way to Mundelein native Ryan Borucki. The Cubs then took a the lead on a single up the middle by Ian Happ, a Tucker RBI groundout and 2 wild pitches.
The Cubs managed one baserunner in the ninth on a two-out single by Swanson, but that's where it ended.
“I think it's a night where it just shows you it's hard to win Major League Baseball games,” Counsell said. “Some weird stuff happened in the game. They scored 2 runs on a very odd play, and that was it.”