Adrian Beltre left Tuesday night’s Red Sox-Rangers game in the eighth inning after being hit in the head by noted headhunter Vicente Padilla. The Rangers third baseman was tested for a concussion but everything reportedly was normal. Doctors say he only has a contusion.
Beltre is pretty lucky that’s all he escaped with, though there is no word if he’ll miss Wednesday’s rubber match. He was able to speak to reporters after the game and told them he didn’t think the 0-2 pitch that hit him was intentional.
“I don’t think he was trying to hit me,” Beltre said after the game, according to ESPN Dallas. “I don’t think in that situation, 1-1, eighth inning, man on third he was trying to hit me. I looked at the video and the catcher was setting up away, so he maybe he was trying to throw it a little harder than he normally throws it and it got away from him.”
The ball went flying after it bounced off his helmet. It looked really bad. But like Beltre said, given the situation, Padilla likely wasn’t targeting him, even though he’s never been afraid to throw some chin music.
