OFF THE WALL

Bringing back memories of ‘The Bronx Zoo’

The only catch Cleveland right fielder Oscar Mercado was able to make in the ninth inning was a beer can thrown at his face.

Some fans in the notoriously rowdy right-field bleachers at Yankee Stadium pelted Cleveland outfielders with bottles, cans and debris in a chaotic scene Saturday, moments after New York rallied for a 6-5 win.

Rather than celebrating after Isiah Kiner-falefa and pinchhitter Gleyber Torres got RBI hits with two outs in the ninth, stars Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and other New York players rushed toward the wall in right-center field, trying to calm the crowd.

Security personnel joined the effort to quell the disturbance.

“You certainly don’t want to put anyone in danger. I love the intensity, but you can’t be throwing stuff out on the field,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.

Cleveland closer Emmanuel Clase (0-2) was one strike away from preserving a 5-4 lead when Kiner-falefa hit a 100 mph fastball for a tying double. Rookie left fielder Steven Kwan ran hard into the wall chasing the ball and a trainer went out to check him.

“Kwan was a little shaken up and had some cuts on his face and there was specific Yankee fan in left field that was celebrating Kwan getting hurt,” Mercado said. “It’s almost like, it’s acts of violence. You can’t say stuff like that, especially when someone gets hurt.”

“I just let him know, ‘Listen, man, you can chirp all you want but don’t celebrate someone getting hurt.’ That’s classless and that shouldn’t be a thing,” he said. “You can root for your team all you want, I’m not denying that. Honestly, it’s good for the game when there are die-hard fans, but do it the right way.”

Before play resumed, Mercado pointed at the stands and center fielder Myles Straw climbed the chain-link fence in left to confront face-to-face at least one fan.

“The kid’s out there bleeding and we’re checking him for concussion, and I think emotions probably got a little out of control,” Cleveland Terry Francona said.

Torres followed by lining a single to right-center for the game-winner. As Mercado and Straw chased the ball in the gap, several fans began throwing objects at them.

“One came close to my face and I caught it. It was a beer can,” Mercado said. “... There’s got to be consequences for behavior like that.”

Trivia question “The Bronx Zoo” was a nonfiction book about the 1978 Yankees. Who wrote it? They said it

From Billy Martin as part of the Yankees’ chaos in 1978: “One’s a born liar, the other’s convicted,” referring first to Reggie Jackson, and then owner George Steinbrenner, who pled guilty in 1974 of making illegal campaign contributions to President Richard Nixon.

Trivia answer

Pitcher Sparky Lyle and author Peter Golenbock .It documents Lyle’s career with the Yankees, New York’s 1978 World Series title and conflicts between some players. Lyle won the 1977 Cy Young, then lost his closer’s job to Goose Gossage and was traded to Texas in the offseason after the ’78 World Series. “From Cy Young to sayonara,” said Yankees third baseman Graig Nettles.