Man falls from right-field stands, stopping Cubs-Pirates game

PITTSBURGH — After the Pirates took a 4-3 lead over the Cubs in the seventh inning Wednesday at PNC Park, play stopped when a fan fell from the 21-foot-high right-field wall and lay motionless on the warning track.

Andrew McCutchen had just reached second base on a two-run double when Cubs manager Craig Counsell and Pirates manager Derek Shelton pointed the umpires toward the fan, who was tended to for about five minutes before being put on a stretcher and carted off the field.

After the game, the Pirates released the following statement:

“Tonight, during the seventh inning of the game at PNC Park, an adult male fell from the right field bleachers onto the field of play. Pittsburgh EMS, as well as the Pirates and Cubs athletic training teams and other PNC Park personnel reacted and responded immediately and administered care.

He was transported to Allegheny General Hospital. No further information is available at this time. Our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family.”

Fans have died from steep falls at baseball stadiums in the past.

In 2015, Atlanta Braves season ticket holder Gregory K. Murrey flipped over guard rails from the upper deck at Turner Field. That was four years after Shannon Stone, a firefighter attending a game with his 6-year-old son, fell about 20 feet after reaching out for a foul ball tossed into the stands at the Texas Rangers’ former stadium.

Both incidents prompted scrutiny over the height of guard rails at stadiums. The Rangers raised theirs, while the Braves settled a lawsuit with Murrey’s family.

A spectator at a 2022 NFL game at Pittsburgh’s Acrisure Stadium died following a fall on an escalator.

Contributing: AP

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