Ben Rice Says Yankees Trolled Him After Squirrel Ran Near Him in Viral Videos

New York Yankees first baseman Ben Rice was on the receiving end of some good-natured trolling from his teammates for his response to a squirrel on the field during Friday's game against the Boston Red Sox.

The squirrel found its way onto the field at Yankee Stadium in the top of the fourth, running around before getting to the mound and then over toward first base when Rice jumped out of its way.

Speaking to reporters after the game, Rice explained his teammates were giving him some grief about his reaction.

"I didn't want to touch that thing," Rice said. "The guys are giving me crap for it. 'Why are you scared of a squirrel?' I don't know where that thing's been. It made a little noise at me."

While Rice didn't specify what type of "little noise" the squirrel made, Critter Control notes the animal has a "wide range of vocalizations" that includes a high-pitched chirp when excited, a bark when threatened and a whistle when happy.

The squirrel definitely seem like it felt threatened based on how brazen it was, starting by bumping into Red Sox rookie Jhostynxon Garcia when he was at-bat or running to the mound when Fried was pitching.

If anything, Yankees players seemed more rattled by the squirrel than it was of them. Fried threw a pitch to the backstop after its mound visit. Rice nervously moved out of its way.

Along with the harrowing squirrel incident, the Yankees also struggled in a 1-0 defeat to their AL East rival. They managed just three hits in the loss.

The Yankees fell behind the Red Sox in the race for the No. 1 wild card spot in the AL after losing the first two games of their four-game weekend series. They are only one game up in the loss column on the Seattle Mariners for the third wild card spot entering play on Saturday.