Rogue squirrels wreak havoc during MLB games
A squirrel sent an MLB crew and an outfielder into a frenzy during Monday night’s Baltimore Orioles-Detroit Tigers game after it ran loose on the field. (This video contains AI-assisted content)
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Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” isn’t the only long journey people are talking about as a squirrel wreaked havoc in Comerica Park Monday night.
During the bottom of the sixth inning of the Baltimore Orioles’ 8-5 win over the Detroit Tigers, a black squirrel got loose in the outfield.
The squirrel raced up and down the warning track, and play continued for an entire inning as the creature walked around the ballpark. At one point the squirrel was not too far away from a pigeon sitting on the warning track taking in the game.
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The Detroit Tigers pitching staff tries to catch a black squirrel running onto the field during a game against the Baltimore Orioles on Friday, July 24, 2026, at Comerica Park in Detroit, Mich. (Ikon Sportswire via Getty Images)
While the black squirrel’s journey across the field may not have been as arduous as Odysseus’s, it was certainly entertaining.
During the top of the seventh inning, it made its way through the infield, but play continued. The real fireworks began down the stretch in the seventh inning when the construction crew came out to remove the squirrel.
The squirrel was headed for the right field corner, and a security guard opened the outfield gate, but the squirrel didn’t go through. About 15 members of the Tigers’ grounds crew, along with Orioles outfielder Leody Taveras, then tried to pick up the squirrel, but it proved elusive.
At one point, the squirrel’s insolence got one of the farm staff so hard that it brought him to his knees.
The squirrel was chased into Taveras’ glove, but as he tried to grab the animal, the squirrel vaulted out of his glove and flew before regaining his balance and continuing to stun the crew with its dexterity.
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A squirrel runs on the field during the seventh inning of the game between the Detroit Tigers and the Baltimore Orioles at Comerica Park in Detroit, Mich., on July 27, 2026. (IMAGN PHOTOS via Reuters Connect)
“I just tried to stop it. When it got into my glove, I don’t want to squeeze it, so I just tried to bring it up. I didn’t try to. But they got it out,” Taveras said, via MLB.com. “I hope it’s good.”
After escaping Taveras’ glove, the squirrel finally appeared to be trapped in the right field corner, but was able to dodge the towels thrown at it by the grounds staff and keep moving.
At one point, a grounds crew member was able to grab the squirrel for a moment, but it broke free again. The squirrel avoided two attempts by garden staff to suffocate it with a towel before it was finally trapped under a third towel.
The on-site crew member then picked up the squirrel, which was under a towel, and was booed off the field by a raucous Tigers crowd.
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The Comerica Park grounds crew tries to catch a squirrel during the seventh inning of a baseball game between the Detroit Tigers and the Baltimore Orioles, Monday, July 27, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Jose Juarez)
Play-by-play announcer Jason Benetti added some exciting commentary as the scene unfolded.
“The chase for the squirrel is on, and the squirrel is cornered, and the squirrel is still escaping a whole horde of crew members! And the squirrel is free again, enveloped? No! I’m not tied up, I have freedom in mind! Trying to go between the legs and again through another jump! And finally! towel! The force field is activated, towels can’t stop him, or maybe they can,” Benetti said when the squirrel was finally caught.
After the squirrel was caught, home plate umpire Bill Miller gave a shoutout to the grounds crew for their efforts.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I want to thank the grounds crew. Let’s give them a round of applause. Detroit Tigers pitching staff, thank you,” Miller said, via MLB.com.
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A squirrel runs on the field during the seventh inning of the game between the Detroit Tigers and the Baltimore Orioles at Comerica Park in Detroit, Mich., on July 27, 2026. (IMAGN PHOTOS via Reuters Connect)
Orioles manager Craig Albernaz aptly described the whole situation as “nuts.”
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“The whole squirrel thing was crazy,” Albernaz said, via MLB.com. “I mean, at one point I thought he was going to go into the batter’s box, see what was going on. He had a great view of the game. I think Bill Miller, the home plate umpire, really stole the show getting everybody out there, and then I had no idea Leody was trying to glove it or catch it in right field. I didn’t see the good job until after the Leody game.”
The Orioles (52-55) will hope there are no other squirrels running around Comerica Park when they host the Tigers (50-57) in the middle game of a three-game series, Tuesday at 7 p.m. 6:40 p.m. ET.
