The Toronto Sun reported on Thursday that Ken Pagan was charged with one count of mischief for throwing a beer can from the crowd at Baltimore Orioles outfielder Hyun Soo Kim during the Toronto Blue Jays’ 5-2 victory in Tuesday’s American League Wild Card Game.
The Toronto Police issued a news release saying Pagan was arrested and charged.
The Toronto Police also released a picture of Pagan on Wednesday and encouraged the perpetrator to turn himself in after throwing the beer at the Rogers Centre:
Joe Warmington of the Toronto Sun noted Pagan talked to police Wednesday and arranged to do just that. According to Warmington, Pagan is an employee of Postmedia and an award-winning journalist.
The incident occurred in the seventh inning when Melvin Upton Jr. drove a deep fly ball to left. Kim caught it near the wall, where Pagan narrowly missed him with the beer can. Center fielder Adam Jones ran over to defend his teammate and yelled into the crowd, while manager Buck Showalter came out of the dugout to discuss the play with the umpires.
Jones voiced his displeasure after the game, per ESPN.com:
Someone threw a beer down at my player. That's about as pathetic as it gets between the lines. You don't do that. I don't care how passionate you think you are. Yell, cuss, scream, tell us we're horrible. We get that. We're the opposition. We completely understand that. To throw something at a player, that's as pathetic as it gets.
The Blue Jays offered a statement on their Twitter page, apologizing for the incident to the Orioles and Major League Baseball and ensuring they will use stricter security measures to increase the safety of the fans and players:
This is not the first time Blue Jays supporters have thrown debris onto the field in a pressure-packed postseason moment.
A number of fans threw bottles and garbage during Toronto’s Game 5 victory over the Texas Rangers in last year’s American League Division Series after Rougned Odor scored from third base when catcher Russell Martin hit Shin-Soo Choo’s bat with a throw back to the pitcher.
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