A scary situation developed at Miller Park Thursday night in Milwaukee when the Brewers hosted the Marlins and Miami slugger Giancarlo Stanton was struck in the face by an 88 mph fastball from Brewers starter Mike Fiers.
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The pitch struck Stanton under his left eye, causing him to fall to the ground and he suffered facial lacerations and fractures and dental damage as a result. The hit-by-pitch occurred in the fifth inning, and Stanton was carried off of the field in an ambulance.
While specifics of the severity of the injury haven't been revealed, but the slugger underwent X-rays and a CT scan though Marlins manager Mike Redmond didn't seem optimistic following the game.
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"We've lost our MVP," Redmond said, according to ESPN. "It doesn't look good."
Trainers from both teams spilled out of the dugouts to try and aid Stanton, and he was eventually put on a backboard and then a stretcher before being carted off the field.
ESPN reports that Stanton's father was at the game and ended up coming onto the field when his son was being treated and he rode away with him in the ambulance.
Things didn't ease up after Stanton was carted off. The umpire had ruled that Stanton offered at the pitch, setting up an 0-2 count for Reed Johnson, who took Stanton's place in the batter's box.
Fiers, noticeably shaken up from what had happened, subsequently hit Johnson on the hand with his next pitch causing cleanup hitter Casey McGehee to jaw at him from the on-deck circle. Both benches and bullpens cleared and while there was some pushing and shoving no punches were thrown.
McGehee and Redmond were then ejected from the game and Miami reliever Anthony DeSclafani wasn't far behind after he threw at Brewers outfielder Carlos Gomez and hit him and was also tossed. That didn't sit well with Redmond.
"We had a guy hit in the mouth, then we had a guy hit in the hand," Redmond said via ESPN. "Then Gomez gets hit, and our guy gets thrown out."
Milwaukee catcher Jonathan Lucroy tried to explain Fiers' reasons for going upstairs on Stanton.
"[Fiers] gets a lot of [strikeouts] on fastballs up, and the ball just got away from him," Lucroy said per ESPN. "You saw what happened. It was definitely a scary moment. You never wish that on anybody. It's just a freak accident."
Stanton leads the MLB with 105 RBI and paces the NL with 37 homers, 299 total bases, a .555 slugging percentage, a .950 OPS and 94 walks. The NL MVP candidate also ranks third in the NL with a .395 on-base percentage.
The Marlins and Brewers split their four-game set with Milwaukee picking up a 4-2 win Thursday night. The teams will not play again this season.
Miami (71-74) enters Friday 5-1/2 games out of the second NL wild-card spot currently held by the Pittsburgh Pirates (77-69) while Milwaukee (76-71) is 1-1/2 games back after freefalling out of the NL Central lead.
With a long-term loss of Stanton, the chances of the Marlins winning the wild-card look bleak.
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