BOSTON \u2014 In a frightening scene befitting the Houston Astros\u2019 injury-ravaged season, first baseman Christian Walker exited Saturday\u2019s 6-3 win against the Boston Red Sox after being struck in the head with a 93.3 mph fastball.<\/p>\n
Walker left the field under his own power, but with a towel covering his face and being escorted by both manager Joe Espada and assistant athletic trainer Rafael Freitas. Walker remained on his feet throughout the ordeal and spoke to reporters in the Astros\u2019 clubhouse following the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m getting to feel OK,\u201d Walker said. \u201cI think the helmet took most of it, and I think turning away from it made it more of a glancing blow than a straight impact, but I feel OK, luckily.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walker underwent testing for a concussion and said, \u201cI don\u2019t see an issue with that.\u201d That he spoke to reporters in a clubhouse amid blaring music is a positive sign.<\/p>\n
Walker said he plans to play in Sunday\u2019s series finale, presuming nothing peculiar happens overnight, which makes it unlikely he will join an Astros injured list that has swelled to as many as 16 this season and currently sits at 14.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs long as I don\u2019t wake up with some crazy neck stiffness or something like that, I plan on being in there,\u201d Walker said.<\/p>\n
The pitch, thrown by Red Sox southpaw Tyler Samaniego, broke the C-flap of Walker\u2019s batting helmet before hitting his forehead. C-flaps are extensions that offer added protection for a player\u2019s jaw and face. Shrapnel from the shattered piece landed in the grass behind the batter\u2019s box.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was really scary,\u201d said Espada, who sprinted from the visitors\u2019 dugout to meet Walker as he staggered from the batter\u2019s box.<\/p>\n
The heart-stopping scene threatened to interrupt a superb start to Walker\u2019s season. The 35-year-old slugger swatted his eighth home run of the year on Saturday, raising his OPS to .963 across his first 123 at-bats. Among the Astros, only Yordan Alvarez has a higher one.<\/p>\n
Walker underwhelmed last season in the first year of a three-year, $60 million free-agent deal. A strained oblique slowed him that spring, but Walker also attributed some of his struggles to the pressure associated with playing on a big contract. He finished the first half of last season with 12 home runs, 47 RBIs and a .660 OPS.<\/p>\n
Walker, whom Houston dangled in some trade talks this winter, is already on pace to shatter all of those pre-All Star break numbers and buoy an offense that leads the American League in runs scored.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou want to come into a new situation where you feel like they brought you in for a reason and you want to prove people right,\u201d Walker said on Saturday. \u201cYou want to show what you got. You want to help the team. You want to lead the team to a World Series. It\u2019s disappointing when it doesn\u2019t go that way. It\u2019s nice to get started on the right foot, but there\u2019s a lot of season left.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BOSTON \u2014 In a frightening scene befitting the Houston Astros\u2019 injury-ravaged season, first baseman Christian Walker exited Saturday\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":644847,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[3959,49,48,11142,1506,462,82],"class_list":["post-644846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-boston-red-sox","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-fantasy-baseball","tag-houston-astros","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=644846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/644847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}