Los Angeles Dodgers’ pitcher Kenta Maeda was hit in the leg by a 95-mile-per-hour line drive from Arizona Diamondbacks’ first baseman Paul Goldschmidt in the sixth inning Tuesday night and left the game.
Here’s video of the play:
Maeda took a 95 MPH batted ball right off the knee. pic.twitter.com/cBdYp8dD8V
— Justin Russo (@FlyByKnite) June 15, 2016
Here’s another angle:
https://twitter.com/ChadMoriyama/status/742927164715110400
Maeda got the ball and threw Goldschmidt out at first, but then stayed on the ground for several minutes before leaving the the game in pain, unable to put weight on his right leg. If his injury turns out to be anything serious, that could be a significant blow for the Dodgers; they signed the 28-year-old out of Japan this offseason, agreeing to an eight-year deal that could be worth as much as $106.2 million (and also paying his Japanese club $20 million to release him). Oddly enough, he’s the third Dodgers’ Japanese pitcher in the last 14 years to be knocked out of a game after being hit by a line drive, following Kaz Ishii in 2002 and Hiroki Kuroda in 2009. Those other situations led to a skull fracture for Ishii and ongoing neck issues for Kuroda; hopefully things will be less serious for Maeda.
We’ve seen impressive things from Maeda at the MLB level so far, too. Heading into this game, he had a 2.70 ERA and a 5-4 record. His injury was also the second bad-looking one in baseball Tuesday night, as Rockies’ outfielder Gerardo Parra was carted off following a collision with teammate Trevor Story. Early reports are that he suffered only a leg contusion and X-rays came back negative, but some reporters urged caution given the past:
#Dodgers Kenta Maeda had X-rays which were negative. Caution — so were Andre Ethier's on first exam.
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) June 15, 2016
We’ll see how this turns out for Maeda and the Dodgers. Here’s hoping he’s all right.
