Red Sox first baseman Justin Turner was hospitalized Monday after he left the spring training game in the first inning after taking a pitch from Tigers starter Matt Manning to the face. As with anything up and in, the first hope was somehow the batter could avoid the pitch and secondly, the hope is that the pitch got all or mostly helmet.
It's tough to tell just from a full-motion video, but it seems like this one got most or all of Turner's face. Warning for the video below:
As the broadcast noted, there appears to be blood dripping from Turner's face. Fortunately, it doesn't appear he ever lost consciousness, though that's about the only silver lining here.
Once Turner picked himself off the ground, he walked immediately to the clubhouse with Red Sox trainers while holding a towel to his face. The Red Sox told local reporters (Pete Abraham) that Turner was taken to a local hospital in an ambulance but haven't provided an update beyond that.
Turner, 38, hit .296/.375/.490 (133 OPS+) in his nine seasons with the Dodgers as one of the faces of a team routinely making the playoffs and going on deep playoff runs. He made two All-Star teams and finished in the top 10 in NL MVP voting twice as well.
He signed a one-year, $15 million deal with the Red Sox this past offseason. With Rafael Devers having signed a long-term extension to remain the Red Sox's third baseman, Turner will move across the diamond to first base while also seeing time at designated hitter this coming season.
