SAN DIEGO (AP) — Colorado Rockies designated hitter Charlie Blackmon left Friday night’s game at San Diego with a bruised left eye after he was hit on the left wrist and face on an errant throw by Padres second baseman Xander Bogaerts.
Blackmon was running to first on a grounder when he was hit, with the ball bouncing off his arm and into his eye. He flipped off his helmet and grabbed at his face as he went down in pain. He was tended to for several minutes as his eye began to swell. He finally 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.”
Said manager Bud Black: “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 homers.
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