A cat interrupted the Yankees and Orioles game. A praying mantis is glued to the hat of a national team player. For the animals on the field, this is an important day.

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When an attempt to catch an acrobatic cat failed, a Yankees started cheering and chatting, and in the capital, a praying mantis sat on Nat's hat and patted.

In other words, Monday is an important day when baseball and animals meet.

An animal unexpectedly loosens on the playing field no more than a few times a year, and fans usually assume that it will never grow old. In 2019, a cat rushed into the end zone of the Giants Stadium. In 2017, a cat perched on the ornate home run sculpture of the Miami Marlins.

Most of the time, this animal—usually a frightened cat—shows dexterous skills in evading human capture until it decides to escape on its own terms. The fans in the stadium will usually support the cat against the evil venue staff, and the TV announcer will bravely tell the play.

The latest entry in the genre appeared at Yankee Stadium on Monday night, when the game against the Baltimore Orioles was interrupted by an intruder at the bottom of the eighth inning.

The camera first caught a cat wandering between the foul zone on the side of third base. After Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge fouled the court with a 1-2 score, the cat rushed into the left midfield and the game was suspended.

"Oh, it may take a while," said Michael Kay, the Yankees announcer.

"Look at this thing; it's faster than anyone in the Yankees," Kevin Brown said on the Orioles radio.

The animal pranced along the warning track near the Oriole bullpen and then demonstrated its impressive agility by jumping onto the fence.

"Okay. Good hops," Kay said.

The cat dangled on the fence, jumped down, and looked at the scenery in front of him. Humans began to approach; the crowd hissed.

But humans are not rivals, because cats can easily run away from them. The crowd cheered.

It hopped around on the fence, jumping very high, but not high enough to escape, and fell to the ground several times. As a cat, it repeats itself.

Four people surrounded it; they did not succeed. The crowd started chanting "MVP"

Five more people surrounded it; they had no chance.

The cat curled up under the fence near the foul post on the left. This time, seven people gathered together.

It ran straight between the legs of a person as it escaped; the crowd became crazy.

But when the cat ran out of the court directly through an open door on the third base line, the cheers turned into boos. Now everyone will have to go back to watching a baseball game.

The Yankees lost to the Baltimore Orioles 7-1.

Cedric Mullins, the Orioles outfielder, said that he saw the cat in the dugout early in the game, "It's really chilling." He added: "Next I know, I hear Cheers from all the fans. I don't know what happened," according to MLB.com. "I didn't see the cat until he was outside the outfield wall. Then I saw seven adult men whose ankles were broken by a cat. It looked interesting."

According to reports, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said in an interview with WFAN Sports Radio on Tuesday, "Unfortunately, the only interesting thing last night was the cat."

On Tuesday night, Yankees vice president of communications and media relations Jason Zillo said that the cat’s whereabouts are still unknown.

The drama in Washington on Monday night was slightly less, and the Nationals defense added a guard on the field: a praying mantis attached to Victor Robles’ hat. It was found in the air-raid shelter at the bottom of the eighth inning and remained on the head of the center fielder until the top of the ninth inning.

"This is a praying mantis for a rally," Bob Carpenter said on the Nationals radio, as the team trailed by one point in the eighth inning.

At some point, the praying mantis moved from the top of Robles' head to the edge of his hat. Robles seemed to be playing, signaling the error how many outs of the game, in case it couldn't keep up.

"When you come to the stadium to watch a baseball game, you never know what you will see," FP Santangelo said on the national team's broadcast.