Dustin Pedroia suffered the indignity tonight of being forced to leave a game with a self-inflicted injury, and a pretty painful-seeming one at that. Leading off the fourth inning against the Orioles, he fouled off a Dylan Bundy pitch that hit home plate and bounced right back up to smack him square in the face. Bleeding and holding his jersey to his face, he headed for the dugout. (Watch in full here.)
At least the Red Sox can take solace in, uh, the fact that Pedroia’s replacement, Brock Holt, doubled in his place? (Boston still entered the fifth inning down 6-1.)
Update (9:30 p.m. ET): It’s a nasal contusion for Pedroia. (Also, two innings later, Boston is now only down 8-7.)