Yohendrick Piñango was involved in a strange side story Monday when a Yankees broadcast joke suddenly went sideways.
The Blue Jays outfielder was at the plate in the 7th inning against New York when YES Network analyst David Cone noticed the red lips tattoo on the left side of Piñango's neck.
Cone asked on air if Piñango had lips on his neck. Paul O'Neill followed by joking that either his mother gave him a big kiss or it was a tattoo.
Cone then said he liked it and wanted one too. That is where the booth got awkward fast.
He added that he would not put it on his neck, which sent O'Neill laughing and pushed the exchange into a more suggestive lane. Michael Kay tried to pull the moment back by saying silence was sometimes his best option.
O'Neill piled on with another jab, saying he hit the mute button and did not even know what Cone said. By then, the whole thing had already turned into one of those broadcast detours viewers remember more than the pitch sequence.
The moment stood out because Piñango was not doing anything flashy. He was simply hitting in a close game while the Yankees booth drifted into a joke that landed a little too weird on live TV.
Piñango's tattoo already had a story behind it
There is an actual explanation for the tattoo, and it is much less dramatic than the booth made it sound. Piñango previously told Sportsnet that when he was younger, he liked it and decided to get it.
That fits the player better than the broadcast bit did. Piñango has been one of the more interesting young Blue Jays stories lately because of his bat, his promotion, and the way he has forced himself into Schneider's lineup picture.
Instead, for a few minutes Monday, he became part of an unexpected viral clip built around other people talking about his neck ink.
The baseball part of the night still mattered more. The Yankees came back to beat Toronto 7-6, and the series carried extra edge as the first meeting since the Blue Jays knocked New York out of last year's playoffs.
But the Cone moment added another layer to the rivalry noise. It was not about a brushback pitch or dugout stare. It was about a broadcast joke that got a little too comfortable and left Kay trying to steer the booth out of the ditch.
For Piñango, it is one more reminder that once you start getting regular at-bats in big games, everything gets noticed. Even a tattoo can become the center of the conversation.
Did the YES Network booth take the Yohendrick Piñango tattoo joke too far?
Also read on Blue Jays Insider :
Blue Jays reveal Ernie Clement update after late lineup scratch
