Yankees' Clint Frazier convinced Tropicana Field stole his game-winning HR

by Felix Pantaleón

Yankees pinch hitter Clint Frazier hit a fly ball that looked like a home run until it clanked off a speaker hanging from the Tropicana Field dome Sunday.

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Tampa Bay’s 10th man at the Trop strikes again! Could’ve been a homer for Clint Frazier, but it ends up a pop out to shortstop. #YANKSonYES pic.twitter.com/QyAlz8hob3
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) June 24, 2018

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — What’s it like to watch a ball you hit and think is going to provide the game-winning run only to see it do something that only happens in maybe the worst ballpark in baseball?

“It’s like hitting a bird in the sky,” Clint Frazier said. “That’s what it felt like.”

Frazier was also sure the ball would have traveled over the fence, possibly averting what eventually became a 7-6, 12-inning loss to the Rays at Tropicana Field on Sunday.

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Frazier pinch hit for Neil Walker to start the ninth inning with the score tied at 6-6.

Reliever Vidal Nuno hung a slider to Frazier. He turned on it and lifted it high to left field.

Then the ball hit a black speaker in the shape of a comma hanging from the “B” ring catwalk.

MLB’s Statcast estimated that Frazier’s fly would have traveled 335 feet. It’s 315 feet to the left-field corner.

After it hit the speaker, it fell to shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria, who was camped under it.

“I think it as going to be fair,” Frazier said. “It was definitely going to be a home run, too. … Got robbed of one.”

Manager Aaron Boone watched from the dugout. He said he didn’t have a good view of it.

“I don’t know,” he said. “You guys would have a better idea than me. We were sitting there trying to figure it out. Seemed like maybe possible, but then is it possible to even stay fair? Along that line? I don’t know. We were just trying to guess.”

It was Frazier’s first at-bat of the series.

“I thought it was going out,” he said. “That’s kind of the way it felt coming off my bat.”

He added, “It’s disappointing. I’d been preparing all week for a pinch it if it came up and I finally got one and hit hits the speaker and bounces to shortstop. Something that hopefully never happens to anybody else.”

Brendan Kuty may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook.