Kansas City Royals infielder Omar Infante suffered a sprained jaw after he was hit in the face by a fastball from Tampa Bay Rays right-handed reliever Heath Bell Monday night and left the game in the seventh inning.
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According to ESPN, Infante immediately left the field, walking off on his own power, after being hit in the left cheek by a pitch. Infante reportedly spit up blood and had blood on his head after being hit. The Royals eventually defeated the Rays 4-2 to kick off their three-game set.
ESPN reports that Infante needed six stitches to close the laceration on the left side of his face, but the Royals said he suffered a "non-concussive head injury." The infielder will be evaluated for 48 hours before the team decides whether or not to place him on the disabled list.
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"They put a number of stitches in there to close the cut," Royals manager Ned Yost told the Kansas City Star on Monday. "They are going to go scan it and see if his jaw is fractured. We'll know more later. I'm not going to make any decisions [on roster moves] until we find out what's going on with Omar and we'll move forward from there."
Yost said there was a lot of blood after he was hit.
"He was bleeding tremendously from the cut," he said via the publication. "I didn't know until they had taken him upstairs that he got hit on the jaw. When we got there they had the towel [over his head] and there was blood all down his shirt. There was no cut on his forehead that I could see."
Infante signed a $30.25 million deal with the Royals after hitting .318 with 10 homers and 51 RBI last season with the Detroit Tigers.
"He was smoked. We're worried about a concussion, too. It shakes you for sure because it's a very ugly sound for somebody to be hit in the face," Yost said after the game per ESPN. "It was a cool night, but I noticed I broke out in a sweat real quick, so it definitely affected me. Of course, you have a lot of worry about it."
Bell commented after the game and felt bad about the pitch hitting Infante, his teammate with the Miami Marlins in 2012.
"My prayers go out to him," Bell told MLB.com. "... I was trying to throw a sinker and just let it run and it ran too much and just didn't finish it. It went up and in. ... I feel really bad. I know he feels bad, but I feel worse. You never want to hit anybody like that. Especially a good friend. Before the game, I was saying 'Hi' to him."
The Royals and Rays resume their series Tuesday night before closing it out with a matinee game on Wednesday.
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