Miami (AFP) – Tampa Bay Rays relief pitcher Hunter Bigge was hospitalized for evaluation after he was struck on the right side of his face by a foul ball as he stood in the dugout during the team’s 4-1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday.
Rays manager Kevin Cash said after the game that Bigge never lost consciousness and was coherent and conversing as he received medical treatment. He gave a thumbs-up signal as he was taken from the field on a cart. “Certainly you feel for Hunter and his wife. I can’t imagine what she and he were going through,” Cash said. “Scary for everybody, none more than them.”
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The incident occurred during the seventh inning, when Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman fouled a pitch from Connor Seabold toward the home dugout on the first-base side of Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Florida. The 105 mph drive hit Bigge, a 27-year-old reliever who was already on the injured list recovering from a muscle strain, as he leaned against the rail in front of the dugout. The game was delayed for 10 minutes as Bigge was placed in a neck brace and put on a stretcher.
“It’s really scary. It’s terrifying. I mean, we all sit in these dugouts every night, and in a lot of ways you kind of feel like sitting ducks a lot of nights,” Orioles interim manager Tony Mansolino said.
Rutschman had followed the flight of the ball off his bat. “It’s really, really scary,” he said. “I haven’t really been a part of something like that. You never want to see that.”
© 2024 AFP
