Dodger Mookie Betts brushes off Yankee fans who were ejected after extreme fan interference

There is fan interference and there is physical assault, and what happened to Dodgers star Mookie Betts in the right field corner of Yankee Stadium in the first inning of Tuesday night's 11-4 Game 4 World Series loss to New York could be the latter apply .

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Betts said after the game. He was frustrated that the Dodgers had failed to defeat the Yankees for four games, but was happy that he had avoided serious injury during the game. “But there’s always a first time.”

Gleyber Torres led off the end of the first with a fly ball to right that drifted into foul territory. Betts, a six-time Gold Glove Award-winning outfielder, jumped to the high padded wall in foul territory and made the catch between two Yankees fans, one wearing a gray away jersey and the other a white pinstriped home jersey.

But as Betts attempted to secure the ball, the fan in the away jersey – identified by Athletic's Brendan Kuty as Austin Capobianco, 38, of Connecticut – reached into Betts' glove to get the ball free.

The other fan then grabbed the wrist of Betts' throwing hand and pulled on it, preventing the outfielder from grabbing the ball, which squirted out of Betts' glove and fell onto the dirt track. Right field umpire Mark Carlson immediately reported fan interference and Torres was ejected.

Capobianco and the other fan, who was not identified, were kicked out of their seats and escorted by stadium security, exchanging high-fives and at least one hug with applauding fans as they entered the aisle.

Read more: The Dodgers fail to complete the sweep as the Yankees leave the mat in Game 4 to keep the season alive

“Yeah, that looked ridiculous from my perspective,” Dodgers shortstop Tommy Edman said. “The guy tried to take his glove off by pulling on his wrist. …It looked like he ejected, and I'm glad he did. I've never seen anything like it. That was unacceptable.”

Betts played the first six years of his big league career with the Boston Red Sox, on the receiving end of one of the fiercest rivalries in baseball, so he's used to being the object of scorn in the Bronx. But never in his 11 seasons in the big leagues has he seen fans be so aggressive toward a player.

Although he was obviously angry with the fans after the game, he harbored no ill intentions toward them after the game.

“It doesn’t matter, we lost, it’s irrelevant,” Betts said of the game. “I'm fine. (The fan) is fine. Everything's cool. We lost the game and that's what I'm focused on. We've got to turn the page and get ready for Game 5 on Wednesday.

Dodgers reliever Ben Casparius, who pitched the first two innings of a bullpen game Tuesday night, allowing one run and one hit, issuing three walks and one strikeout, grew up a Red Sox fan in Westport, Connecticut, and said he has a few attended by As a child, he played 50-60 games at Yankee Stadium and always wore his Red Sox gear.

Was the right-hander surprised by what happened to Betts?

“No, not at all,” said Casparius. “I think it was an interesting moment, just a few pitches into the game. And obviously there's a history with this team and that (Mookie) has been playing for the Red Sox for so long. It was kind of a ‘let’s go’ moment at the beginning.”

The Dodgers had a come-from-behind moment early in the first when Betts hit a double into the right field corner with one out and Freddie Freeman hit a two-run home run into the right field row for a 2-0 lead went . It was déjà vu for Freeman, who hit a two-run home run in the first inning of Monday night's 4-2 Game 3 victory.

Read more: Plaschke: No big deal. The Dodgers punt in Game 4 but are still in control against the Yankees

But the Yankees scored once in the second, and shortstop Anthony Volpe crushed a poorly placed first-pitch slider from Dodgers reliever Daniel Hudson into the left field seats for a two-out grand slam and a 5-2 lead.

The Dodgers scored twice early in the fifth to cut the deficit to 5-4, but New York catcher Austin Wells hit a solo home run into the second deck in right field in the sixth for a 6-4 lead.

The Yankees then opened the game with a five-run eighth off Dodgers right-hander Brent Honeywell, a rally highlighted by Torres' three-run home run to right-center.

Struggling Yankees slugger Aaron Judge capped the rally with an RBI single to left after being hit by a pitch, reaching for an error and flying to center field in his first four plate appearances.

“They’re going to fight,” Betts said of the Yankees. “If you’ve made it this far, you have a certain resilience within you. You will fight all the time. We expected that. Obviously we didn't play well today and they did. That's why they won.

“We are three to one ahead at the moment. We feel pretty good about it. But no lead is safe until you win the fourth game.”

For more Dodgers news, subscribe to Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the beginning of each series.

This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.