Two Yankees clash with Reds pitchers during national anthem on Fourth of July... but here's why move backfires

The Cincinnati Reds not only completed a three-game sweep of the floundering New York Yankees in the Bronx on Thursday. Manger David Bell's club also won the national anthem.

For five minutes ahead of Thursday's matinee, Reds hurlers Graham Ashcraft and Carson Spiers had what's become known as an 'anthem standoff' with the Yankees' Ian Hamilton and Cody Poteet.

Basically, it's a game of chicken to see who can linger on the field the longest following the playing of The Star-Spangled Banner. One 2023 standoff between Boston's Kutter Crawford and Philadelphia's Matt Strahm lasted so long that umpires tossed both players, who were ultimately fined by the league.

But while Thursday's standoff went a full five minutes, it didn't result in any ejections or fines. Instead it simply ended when Yankees manager Aaron Boone – a former Reds third baseman – gestured for his players to return to the dugout as starting pitcher Marcus Stroman was ready to toss the game's first pitch.

And as Reds slugger Spencer Steer sees it, that led directly to another Cincinnati win.

Cincinnati Reds' Carson Spiers, left, and Graham Ashcraft, right, stand after the  anthem

New York Yankees' Cody Poteet, left, and Ian Hamilton, right, stand after the national anthem

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'That also set the tone,' said Steer, whose three-run homer in the fifth inning gave Cincinnati a 5-0 lead.

Steer praised Ashcraft, using the pitcher's given first name, Douglas.

'That was pretty awesome of Doug just to kind of win that one for us and kind of give us a little edge before the first pitch,' Steer said after the 8-4 win. 

All four players ignored plate umpire Alan Porter, who made a shooing motion with both hands. Porter then dispatched third base umpire Jim Wolf to urge them off the field.

'Lucas Sims didn't have a hat out there, so he took my hat, didn't want to be standing there without a hat on the Fourth of July,' Spiers said, referring to another Reds pitcher. 'So me being a rookie, I was standing there without a hat, whatever, looking dumb. And then, as the thing was ending, Sims was like: 'Spiers, you got to stay here until the last one.' So I was like, all right, whatever. I'll stay. Sure enough, their guys stayed, too.

'So I was like, 'oh God, here I go.' Like, I'm in for it a long time. And I saw Graham kind of slide over with me, and from there it was the long haul.'

They had a brief reprieve when Porter returned to the umpires clubhouse to retrieve a shin guard. Being a rookie making the $740,000 minimum, Spiers decided to peel off first.

'Thinking about the fine and knowing that I couldn't afford it,' he said. 'So I just made a business decision.'

Graham Ashcraft stands for the national anthem about five minutes after the song ended 

New York's pitchers, both on the injured list, finally walked off Boone gestured for them to leave.

'A little competition within the game, I guess,' Poteet said. 'That's probably the first one I've ever been a part of but it took all the way to the very last bit where it's getting close to the game starting.'

Ashcraft, in his third major league season, has a slightly higher salary at $750,000. He started and got the win in Tuesday's series opener and wasn't going to pitch in Thursday's game.

'We saw they weren't moving and one of the guys told Carson to stay, and I was like, 'I'm staying with you because I'm not moving,' Ashcraft said. 'I ain't got nothing to do today. I'm staying until I win or I get ejected or both.'