The Giants were already in a fighting mood Friday night, clawing past their arch-rivals in a heated game pivotal for their playoff lives.
Which is what made the antics of the two fans who ran onto the field in the top of the fourth inning all the more ill-advised.
Buster Posey and Madison Bumgarner had already made the two flower-toting interlopers feel unwelcome in their yard. As our beat guy Andy Baggarly so aptly described what happened next:
The night’s most profoundly pugilistic act — a highlight that shall not appear on network affiliates — came when Angel Pagan went full WWE while body slamming one of two trespassing fans in the fourth inning.
Here’s the spectacle, captured by one well-positioned fan:
Epic footage of the night. @SFGiants #respectPagan pic.twitter.com/s3taWXuUiJ
— Eric OConnor (@ericoconnor96) October 1, 2016
Added Baggarly:
The two fans, who were later identified as animal rights activists, wore blue shirts and tried to give what appeared to be puffy white mums to the Giants players. Bumgarner shooed one fan away with a cocked fist. Posey stiff-armed an approaching trespasser to the ground. Pagan lured in his unsuspecting interloper with false interest, and then threw him to the ground.
The Colosseum couldn’t have shaken with more noise.
“I guess it was very explosive,” said Pagan, smiling. “Us athletes, we’ve got that kind of strength, I was just trying to get him down as soon as possible so the security guys could handle him. I wasn’t trying to harm him or anything. I was just trying to help so we could continue the game.
“It was going to take a long time for him to be taken down. Bum was on a roll. I wanted the game to keep going.”
It should come as no surprise that Vin Scully, in his third-to-last MLB game ever, had the perfect call of the episode.
Vin Scully calling the game and Pagan taking out a kid who ran into left field. And ending it with "When in SF" https://t.co/5n8cSJdU43
— LL (@TheLujeeeSays) October 1, 2016
