Everyone held their breath at Rogers Centre on Saturday afternoon.
During the fifth inning of the Blue Jays’ 6-1 win over the Angels, Los Angeles outfielder Taylor Ward took a pitch from Alek Manoah that clipped his helmet and hit the left side of his face.
The 91-mph sinker came up and in, with no time for Ward to move out of the way.
Ward went down to the ground and Angels trainer held a towel to his face.
After a couple of minutes, Ward got to his feet and left the field on a cart.
His left eye appeared to be swollen shut.
Ward was taken to a Toronto hospital for tests.
As a hushed silence remained over the crowd, players — Shohei Ohtani, Vladimir Guerrero and Manoah among them — looked on in disbelief.
Angels manager Phil Nevin said he planned to visit Ward in the hospital after leaving the stadium following their loss.
“It got him pretty flush,” Nevin said.
“Our thoughts right now are with him,” Nevin said, while not giving a clear update on the status of the injury, according to The Athletic.
“I’m definitely going to pray for him and his family,” Manoah added, according to the outlet. “That’s the last thing you want to do, no matter the situation, no matter the team, no matter anything. [I] feel really bad about it.
“Definitely will be looking to see how he’s doing and hopefully he’s back on the field pretty quickly.”
Ward’s teammates are praying and hoping for the best for their teammate.
“It’s scary,” Angels left-hander Reid Detmers said. “You’re just hoping and praying that he’s all right, that he gets up.”
“Obviously it didn’t look very good,” Angels infielder Mike Moustakas said. “Hopefully we get some good news here in a little bit. We’re all praying for him.”
Former Yankee Andrew Velazquez entered the game for Ward while lefty Genesis Cabrera came in for Alek Manoah.
Ward is hitting .253 with 14 homers and a .756 OPS this season.
— with AP
