Padres designated hitter Luis Arraez had to be placed on a stretcher and carted off the field after he collided with Astros second baseman Mauricio Dubón, who had been covering second base during the top of the first bunt attempt.
Arraez was able to move his limbs, but the nature of his injury wasnât immediately clear.
In a statement from the Padres, the team said that Arraez was transported to Houston Methodist Hospital to be evaluated.Â
Following the game, manager Mike Shildt said the results came back as “the best case scenario.”
âObviously, very scary,â Shildt told reporters. âWe think heâs for the most part out of the woods. More time will tell, but the initial testing is very favorable. No fractures of any sort. I mean, he got a little bit of a laceration on his jawline, so we are worried about his jaw. We are worried about his cervical region. Everything was clear, stable on the initial testing.
âWeâve been burned before on testing, so we will be cautiously optimistic,â he continued. âHe did have a period where he wasnât aware of where he was, so thatâs clearly concerning. Everything is coming back to him now, and his initial testing from a concussion standpoint was favorable, but clearly, we are not out of the woods. All things considered, thatâs a blessing.â
The concerning incident occurred after Arraez laid down the bunt and charged to first base.
Astros first baseman Christian Walker played the ball and flipped it over to Dubón, but as the Houston second baseman went to step on the bag he appeared to get in the path of Arraez and the two came together with the Padres DH immediately crumpling to the ground.
San Diego first base coach Dave Macias quickly went over to Arraez to check on him, as did Dubón, before the Padres trainers came out of the dugout to evaluate the situation.
A slow-motion replay of the play showed that Arraezâs head had made contact with Dubónâs forearm.Â
âIt was scary,â Dubón told the media after the game. âI mean, just watching him not move. It was scary. Especially people know the type of player I am. Iâm not a dirty player or anything. So it sucks. Worst part about it is you get death threats from stuff like this and everything. So itâs going to be a fun ride home.â
Several Padres players came over to where Arraez was down and took a knee and Dubón remained by his side until he was carted off the field.
Arraez did appear to give a thumbs-up as he was being taken off the field.
The game was delayed 15 minutes because of the injury.
Arraez had come into Sundayâs game with a .287 batting average, three home runs and seven RBIs on the season.