A scary moment went down in the third inning of Monday night’s Cardinals-Mets game at Citi Field.
Leading off the inning, Mets outfielder Kevin Pillar hit a ground ball to Cardinals shortstop Edmundo Sosa, who ranged to his left and made an off-balance throw coming out of a spin move that sailed well wide of Paul Goldschmidt’s outstretched glove and struck first base umpire Junior Valentine on the right side of his face in the area of his cheek. Here’s a look:
As you can see, the impact of the throw drew blood. With his eyes trained on the first base bag for what he thought might be a close play, Valentine didn’t even see the throw heading for him.
Fortunately, Valentine was able to remain in the game and work the full nine innings. By those late innings, he had a visible bruise on his upper cheek. Given the velocity on the throw — big league shortstops by necessity throw very hard — Valentine was fortunate he wasn’t more seriously injured.
As for the game itself, the Cardinals rode another strong performance from Adam Wainwright to a 7-0 win over the Mets.
