In the first inning of Saturday's game against the Cubs, Ryan Braun—going through his typical warm-up routine in the hole before making his way into the on-deck circle—struck Jean Segura in the head as he whipped his bat around. Segura was taken out of the game and helped back into the locker room. He wound up with a laceration big enough that it required stitches from a plastic surgeon.
Braun obviously had no idea Segura was back there and Segura clearly didn't realize he was that close to Braun, or perhaps that Braun was even there at all. He just walked right into the windmilling bat. It's a little bit like watching one of those scenes from the old George Reeves Superman show, where he has to save someone tied to a log in a mill before the log gets to the giant saw. Except George Reeves is dead, so, here we are.
Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said after the game that Segura did not suffer a concussion or fracture and he is not expected to go on the DL, but it was still a scary scene for everyone involved.
"You never want to see something like that," Braun told reporters. "It breaks your heart a little bit. Obviously, it's never something done intentionally but whenever you're involved in a situation like that it puts life in perspective ... Thank God, from everything we've heard, he's OK. It could have been a lot worse."
Braun also left the game early with a right intercostal strain, which he apparently aggravated in batting practice and worsened while making a throw in the seventh inning.