Houston Astros designated hitter Yordan Alvarez broke the scoreboard at Tropicana Field with a batting practice home run before the club's 3-2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday night.
There are pictures showing the damage the Astros slugger did to the scoreboard. But, as Alvarez jokingly pointed out to reporters during his postgame media availability, if there was no video taken, how could anyone know it was him who broke the scoreboard?
Alvarez then went on to joke that he would not be footing the bill to the Rays for the damages.
"Nah, you're trying to get me in trouble, you're the one that posted that picture," Alvarez said through his interpreter Jenloy Herrera. "Was there a video showing it was me? I don't know if there was, and I'm not paying that bill."
When asked if he was denying his role in the scoreboard's damage, Alvarez continued to amusingly plead the fifth.
"I don't know, if there's not a video, people are asking for video but if there's no video, I don't know who it was."
One of Alvarez's batting practice home runs collided with the scoreboard and caused it to go dark for a moment, then resulted in a malfunctioning screen. The scoreboard was damaged for the duration of the game, but fans were able to view the game's score and at-bat counts on a smaller scoreboard in center field.
The game is well underway and the scoreboard is still broken at Tropicana Field thanks to Yordan Alvarez 😆 pic.twitter.com/PcKz6EmbAl
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) August 13, 2024
It's not the first time Alvarez has hit a scoreboard during batting practice.
Yordan Alvarez Temporarily Damages Astros' Scoreboard in 2019
During Alvarez's rookie year, he drilled a ball that traveled over 450 feet and dented the lower-right part of the scoreboard, temporarily cutting power from the unit
The Astros had a good sense of humor about it.
Yordan has El Grande pop! 💥 pic.twitter.com/xe4QtvLMc3
— Houston Astros (@astros) August 24, 2019
It's not surprising that Alvarez can do such damage to scoreboards, given that he ranks 15th in the majors this season in average exit velocity and owns the ninth-hardest hit ball-117 MPH- in the big leagues this year.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Yordan Alvarez Had Perfect Joke After Breaking Rays' Scoreboard During BP.
