Kevin Kiermaier forced to leave game due to eyelash issue

Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Kevin Kiermaier had a somewhat unusual reason for leaving Saturday’s game against the Toronto Blue Jays: a troublesome eyelash.

Kiermaier said he had first experienced discomfort while shagging balls during batting practice when an eyelash got into his eye. Kiermaier rinsed the eye out, but that just made things worse.

“A couple minutes in, I was like, dang it, I got an eyelash in my eye,” Kiermaier said, via the Associated Press. “There was an eyelash in there and then we rinsed my eye, and then it disappeared or kind of went into one of these crevices or whatever. Once that happened, everything took a turn for the worse.

“I don’t know how or if we scratched, that’s definitely what it feels like. I keep telling people it just feels like a piece of sand on the inside of my eyelid. Every time I blink, just pressure, irritation, a scratching feeling.”

Kiermaier said things were slightly better Sunday, but he still felt discomfort. He did not play due to a scheduled day off, though he was available off the bench.

Normally when an athlete suffers an eye injury, it’s the product of getting poked or hit there, not this. It certainly qualifies for addition on the long list of weird sports injuries.