MLB

Swarm of bees delays Yankees game

TAMPA — Add “bee delay” to the long list of odd events that have occurred during the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry.

A swarm of honey bees halted Tuesday’s 8-1 Yankees win for seven minutes, as the grounds crew at Steinbrenner Field scrambled to get rid of it.

Boston left fielder Mike Carp first noticed the bees near the wall prior to the bottom of the third and notified the umpires. Eventually, the grounds crew was able to used bug spray to get the bees to disperse.

“I heard them before I saw them,” Carp said. “They kept coming toward me, and I wanted no part of that.

“I didn’t want a couple thousand bees on me. … It was hard to see.”

Umpire Tom Hallion said he asked the grounds crew for advice, but was told the bees weren’t indigenous to the area.

Mark Teixeira went back into the clubhouse and returned with two bottles of honey.

“What I thought was, if you just [make] a line of honey out to the parking lot, the bees would maybe follow it to the parking lot and leave us alone,” Teixeira said with a smile.

After the delay ended, Francisco Cervelli tripled to left-center off Felix Doubront, sparking a four-run Yankees rally.