Cubs third baseman Alex Bregman had to leave Sunday’s 9-1 victory against the Reds at Great American Ball Park after getting hit in the left cheek bone by a foul ball from teammate Michael Busch.
With two outs in the fourth inning, Busch was at the plate when he half-swung at a pitch thrown by Reds right-hander Luis Mey. Busch fouled off the pitch and the ball hit Bregman while he was in the on-deck circle. Bregman immediately went into the dugout, and he was replaced by pinch-hitter Matt Shaw.
“You never want to see that on the ball field. You can’t control any of that. It happened so fast,” Busch said. “Any time [the ball] hits the head area, it’s scary. … You focus on the game, but it’s tough.”
Bregman was sent to the hospital for X-rays and a CT scan, but there wasn’t any initial word after the game regarding what kind of damage was done.
The third baseman posted a selfie on Instagram showing his swollen eye and captioned it: “Thanks for all the messages yall. I’ll be back.”
