Cubs third baseman Alex Bregman was injured during the fourth inning of Sunday’s game against the Reds in Cincinnati in the most freakish way possible — on a check swing foul ball off the bat of Michael Busch, while Bregman was in the on-deck area.
Here’s how it happened [VIDEO].
Bregman immediately left the game and went to a local hospital for X-rays and a CT scan. Here’s what we know as of now, via Patrick Mooney in The Athletic:
Cubs manager Craig Counsell said he anticipated Bregman traveling with
the team on Sunday night back to Chicago.
“It’s the left cheekbone, essentially, under the eye,” Counsell said. “I don’t know anything more than that right now. He had a cut under his eye. He was bleeding from his nose a little bit. He’s pretty swollen.”
You can see exactly where that injury was in this photo:
I know that’s not fun to look at, which is why I didn’t make it the lead image for this article. But you can see a cut below Bregman’s eye and his nose bleeding. Hopefully, what Pete Crow-Armstrong said is true:
“At the end of the day, you just hope your friend’s OK,” Crow-Armstrong said. “That’s the news that I’m hoping for. I heard no concussion, maybe, so that’s a plus. Scary stuff.”
Assuming there’s no concussion, the swelling is reduced and Bregman has no vision issues, he could perhaps play in the series against the Marlins which begins Tuesday evening at Wrigley Field. Or, the team might think it better to hold him out for a day or two of that series to see how things are going. If the Cubs can defeat the Marlins without Bregman, and maybe clinch home field by winning at home while the Dodgers beat the Padres in San Diego, Bregman could rest until a Wild Card series begins next week. Here’s more from Counsell:
“We got to get good results at the hospital,” Counsell said. “That’s what’s first. He got hit in the face, so you’re worried just about general well-being first. If we get a good report, then we’ll kind of move to the next step. I want to get a good report first.”
Here’s a message from Bregman, via his Instagram:
Well, that’s pretty scary looking. Hopefully, it looks worse than it is.
The Cubs still have a magic number of 1 to clinch that Wild Card spot, which they can do by defeating the Marlins Tuesday evening. It would be nice to see the team clinch the postseason at Wrigley Field. All the teams involved in that race — the Cubs, Phillies, Padres and Diamondbacks — are off Monday.
And so, as always, we await developments.
