San Francisco Giants left fielder Angel Pagan slammed a trespassing fan to the grass Friday night at AT&T Park.
The incident took place in the top of the fourth. A duo, both in blue, invaded the playing field. Security quickly stopped on half of the flower-power pair. The other man attempting to give paper flowers to players received a slight push in return from Buster Posey. He responded by going down. The catcher said the space invader should have been “charged with a flop”
Pitcher Madison Bumgarner also refused one of the stranger’s offerings. When he approached Pagan, the outfielder feigned acceptance. He quickly wrapped the man in his arms, elevated him belly-to-belly, and then slammed him violently on his back with a twisting motion.
“I was just trying to protect myself and protect my teammates,” Pagan told reporters. “The guy was getting close to my teammates. He was handing a flower to each and every one of us so it came to my attention: hand me one. It was going to take a long time for him to be taken down and Bum was on a roll. So I wanted for the game to keep going.”
Bumgarner confessed, “It was pretty fun to watch.” Dodgers announcer Vin Scully offered, “I guess you could say only in San Francisco, maybe,” and asked, “Doesn’t that bring you back to the ’60s and the flower children?”
The sold-out crowd watched the hometown team beat their old rival the Los Angeles Dodgers 9-3. Bumgarner helped his cause by going 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run. But the hit by his left fielder unrecorded and unappreciated in the box score gets remembered as the hit of the game.
“I guess it was very explosive,” Pagan explained after the game. “Most athletes have that kind of strength.”
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