I learned two things seeing this story of Justin Turner getting hit by a pitch.
1) Baseball can be pretty scary. I think we all grow numb to the fact that players are chucking around basically a leather-wrapped rock at over 90 miles an hour.
2) Justin Turner is playing for the Red Sox. I just assumed he was still suiting up at 3rd base for the Los Angeles Dodgers, to the point where I started to write the title to say “Dodger’s Justin Turner…”
Turner was hit by a pitch during a Spring Training game between the Boston Red Sox and the Detroit Tigers back on March 6th, but he just recently shared some of the photos of his face from after the incident.
The result of the HBP is pretty gnarly, and required a total of 16 stitches.
To be honest, it looks like the baseball is still stuck inside his face:
The scene was pretty scary when Turner got hit, with blood pouring out of his face and medical responders rushing to his side.
A towel covered his face as he walked off the field, and he was then taken by ambulance to a local hospital.
MLB.com reported that the X-rays that were taken at the hospital came back negative, meaning that Turner avoided any major head injuries. The Red Sox 3rd baseman tweeted out an update a couple of days after, letting the world know he still had “all his chiclets:”
Turner seemed to stay in good spirits about the whole thing, and the fact that he avoided any major fractures helped his recovery time. Turner stepped back into the batter’s box for the Red Sox this past Monday, only two weeks after the scary HBP occurred.
If you are brave enough to watch, here is the video of Detroit Tigers pitcher Matt Manning losing control of his pitch and accidentally hitting Turner in the face:
He only took two weeks off after that terrifying scene. Probably would’ve taken me two years to gain enough confidence to step back into the box.
Justin Turner: Certified Tough S.O.B.
And also, since this has to do with MLB, I must say that we are only 7 days away from Opening Day. This promo for the season with Bryan Cranston (he never misses) should fire you up if you are a baseball fan:
