iStock/Thinkstock(PHOENIX) — During the bottom of the seventh inning of the Arizona Diamondbacks Friday night game with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Diamonbacks catcher Chris Iannetta was hit in the face with a 93 mile per hour fastball while he was batting.
Iannetta remained on the ground for several minutes with blood dripping from his face, eventually being helped to his feet and walking off the field while holding a cloth to his nose.
Manager Torey Lovullo addressed Iannetta’s injury in his postgame press conference before taking any questions, saying:
“Everything was OK. He split his lip open and he’s at the hospital right now to get further exams. Anytime there’s head trauma, anytime there’s something that hits you in that area, you’re never comfortable until a diagnosis has been made so we’re using every precaution to make sure that he’s OK.”
He added that the team should know more about Iannetta’s status on Saturday.
The hit by pitch ignited speculation that Pirates pitcher Johnny Barbato was intentionally targeting Iannetta, who hit a home run earlier in the game.
The two clubs have a history of bad blood. In 2014, Diamondbacks star Paul Goldschmidt was hit in the hand by a pitch and missed the rest of that season. The day after that game, Pirates center fielder Andrew McCutchen was drilled in the back by a pitch. Tempers flared again in May 2016, when Arizona’s second baseman Jean Segura was hit on the helmet with a pitch.
When asked about it at his press conference, Lovullo paused, then told reporters he believes the pitch just “got away” from the pitcher.
Barbato said just that afterwards:
“It got away from me. Definitely a relief when he can get up on his own. I’m going to try to reach out to him and make sure he is all right. It’s kind of scary. Hopefully he is all right.”
The Diamondbacks won the game 11-4.
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