Alex Cora briefly pulls Boston Red Sox off the field after fan hits Alex Verdugo with baseball at Yankee Stadium

A fan threw a baseball at Boston Red Sox left fielder Alex Verdugo and hit him in the back in Saturday night’s game at Yankee Stadium, leading manager Alex Cora to briefly remove his players from the field in the sixth inning.

Verdugo started yelling at the fans and was held back by first baseman Tom Goodwin.

“I felt like he was being targeted at me and that didn’t suit me,” Verdugo said afterwards.

The game resumed after a discussion with the referees near the Boston dugout. The contest was then called off after six innings due to heavy rain with the Yankees leading 3-1.

“It’s just a game,” Cora said. “It’s a game. It’s not life or death and it’s not this drama, and the fact that people come to the stadium and have decided to throw a baseball ( to) one of the players, I was in shock that this was happening. “

Verdugo said he threw the ball in the stands to a young Red Sox fan, but a Yankees fan intercepted him and sent him back onto the pitch and hit Verdugo.

“It is horrible, embarrassing, unacceptable,” said Yankees manager Aaron Boone.

The match started 52 minutes late due to a weather delay even though it was not raining, and the tarp was not placed on the pitch. There were also four delays for replay criticism and another stoppage when plate umpire Jeff Nelson took a 96 mph fastball from the Yankees pitcher. Gerrit Cole of his mask in the sixth.

As Nelson was in control, the rain intensified considerably. The match was delayed by rain for the second time moments after Cole took the mound for seventh, and called after a 54-minute delay including lightning and heavy downpours.

Cole struck out 11 as the Yankees outscored longtime rivals for the first time in eight games this year. It was their first victory over Boston in nine tries since September 19.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.