Smell familiar? Skunk once again interrupts Baysox-Senators game

Something is in the air when these two teams meet.

For the second time this season, a skunk has interrupted play between the Double-A Bowie Baysox (Orioles) and Harrisburg Senators (Nationals).

In the bottom of the sixth inning on Tuesday night at Harrisburg’s FNB Field, a black-and-white striped critter appeared just outside the right-field foul line beyond the infield dirt. Home-plate umpire Evin Johnson called time, Baysox right-hander Alex Pham stepped off the mound, two members of the grounds crew gathered their courage and the chase was on.

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Pursued by a polo-shirted duo and cheered by the Harrisburg faithful, the adventurous little creature took a fairly leisurely stroll across the infield before showing some wheels in the outfield – hello, Juan La-pew-ierre – and marching along the warning track in foul ground in left.

It raised its tail in apparent warning once, then escaped into the Bowie bullpen. From there, it evidently made its way elsewhere into the stadium.

“It’s off to the Kids Zone,” Harrisburg’s Frankie Vernouski said on the broadcast. “Kids, look out!”

Thus ended the delay of more than two minutes. The previous skunk-induced interlude in Baysox-Senators action occurred on May 10, when a specimen of Mephitis mephitis -- possibly the same one that appeared on Tuesday -- took the spotlight in the eighth inning, making its way from left field to shallow left-center before being chased by a grounds crew member out to the warning track before disappearing under the wall in dead center.

The Senators won that game, 3-2, and took Tuesday night’s affair, 5-4, making Harrisburg undefeated in skunk-interrupted games against Bowie in the 2023 season. So far.

The Sens’ home of FNB Field is one of the most interesting stadiums in all of the Minor Leagues, situated on a landmass in the middle of the Susquehanna River -- City Island. The island is accessible via two bridges (including the stately pedestrian-only Walnut Street Bridge) and a ferry, and it features numerous attractions of interest to fans, such as the “One & Only World Famous Life Size Bobblehead Hall of Fame.”

But those bobbleheads, apparently, are not alone out there.

“There are a lot of skunks on this island,” Harrisburg broadcaster Terry Byrom said on Tuesday. “I’m really surprised it’s only happened a couple times.”