CLEVELAND, Ohio (AP) 鈥 Cleveland Guardians designated hitter David Fry sustained a broken nose and facial fractures after he was hit in the face by a pitch from Detroit鈥檚 Tarik Skubal in the sixth inning of Cleveland鈥檚 5-2 win over the Tigers, a victory that deadlocked the AL Central division race.
鈥淗e is doing OK, he’s in good spirits,鈥 manager Stephen Vogt said by phone Wednesday morning. 鈥淗e鈥檚 upright, he鈥檚 alert.鈥
Vogt visited Fry in the hospital. The team planned a more detailed update later.
Fry squared around to try to bunt a 99 mph fastball from Skubal on Tuesday night and the pitch struck him in the nose and mouth area. As Fry collapsed in the batter鈥檚 box and immediately grabbed his bloodied face, a visibly shaken Skubal threw off his glove and cap as Vogt and trainers rushed onto the field.
Fry laid in the dirt for several minutes before being slowly helped to his feet. He gave a thumbs-up signal as he sat up and was driven off in a cart.
The Guardians said Fry was being transported from Lutheran Medical Center to the Cleveland Clinic Main Campus for further testing and observation.
鈥淚t was straight to the face,鈥 Vogt said, describing the impact on Fry that shook everyone inside Progressive Field. 鈥淲e鈥檙e all thinking about David and his family right now. Obviously, we鈥檙e glad he is OK, but obviously it鈥檚 a really scary moment.鈥
Skubal, the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner, paced around the infield as Fry was being assisted. Following the game, Skubal, who allowed just two hits through the first five innings, said seeing Fry in distress was difficult.
鈥淩eally tough,鈥 the left-hander said. 鈥淚鈥檝e already reached out to him. I鈥檓 sure his phone is blowing up. I just want to make sure he鈥檚 all right. Obviously, he seemed like he was OK coming off the field and hopefully it stays that way.
鈥淚 know sometimes with those things that can change. So hopefully he鈥檚 all right. I look forward to hopefully at some point tonight or (Wednesday) morning getting a text from him and making sure he鈥檚 all good because there鈥檚 things that are bigger than the game and the health of him is more important than a baseball game.鈥
That鈥檚 how Guardians left fielder Steven Kwan felt after watching Fry, an All-Star in 2024 who underwent offseason elbow surgery and didn鈥檛 join the team until late May, go down.
鈥淒efinitely really scary,鈥 Kwan said. 鈥淔or David to even try something like that (bunt), that鈥檚 just who he is. Selfless kind of guy, and especially in a position like that, he鈥檚 a tough guy. Thankfully he had some humor when he came up, but you don鈥檛 want to see a guy that鈥檚 been with you pretty much the whole year.
鈥淥bviously energy-wise, just who he is as a teammate, he鈥檚 meant so much to us as a team. It鈥檚 really scary, but thankfully he had some humor coming off the field, so hopefully we get some good news.鈥
Following the incident, Skubal threw a wild pitch to George Valera, who replaced Fry, allowing Cleveland to score. Skubal also had an error 鈥 he inexplicably tried to make a blind throw to first between his legs 鈥 and was also called for a balk in the sixth inning as the Guardians rallied for three runs to take a 3-2 lead without hitting a ball out of the infield.
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AP Baseball Writer Janie McCauley contributed to this report.
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