Colorado Rockies designated hitter Charlie Blackmon left Friday night’s game at San Diego with a bruised left eye after being struck on the left wrist and face by an errant throw from Padres second baseman Xander Bogaerts.
Blackmon was running to first base on a grounder when the ball hit his arm and then struck his eye. He took off his helmet and clutched his face as he fell to the ground in pain.
Medical staff attended to him for several minutes as his eye began to swell. He eventually walked off the field and was replaced by Hunter Goodman.
“It’s better,” Blackmon said afterward. “I feel better. It felt like my eye exploded.
I think I got lucky to be honest. It could have hit me with a little more force. I don’t think it really hit me that hard.”
Manager Bud Black said: “I don’t want to say he went the distance with Floyd Patterson, but he got hit in the eye. He got clocked. It started swelling immediately when we were on the field but after the game it looked like the swelling was down from where it was earlier.
“He’s fine. He’s one of the toughest guys I’ve ever had. He’ll probably want to play tomorrow. But we’ll see how it is.” He was hitting .255 with seven home runs.
