HOUSTON — San Diego Padres designated hitter Luis Arraez returned to the stadium postgame after he was taken to a hospital following a collision with Mauricio Dubon on a play at first base in the first inning of his club’s 3-2 win over the Houston Astros on Sunday night.
San Diego manager Mike Shildt said after the game that the situation was the “best case scenario with Luis.”
“Obviously, very scary,” Shildt said. “We think he’s 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.”
However, Shildt was cautionary about the initial testing.
“We’ve been burned before on testing, so we will be cautiously optimistic,” he said. “He did have a period where he wasn’t aware of where he was, so that’s 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, that’s a blessing.”
Arraez hit a drag bunt on the first pitch of his at-bat, grounding it down the first base line to Christian Walker, who flipped it to second baseman Dubon, who ran over to cover first. As Dubon covered the base, he collided with Padres designated hitter Arraez, who appeared to hit Dubon’s arm or elbow with his face.
Both players hit the ground, but Arraez took the worst of it, laying motionless in foul territory next to first base as trainers and coaches from both teams came out to tend to him.
“It was scary,” Dubon said. “I mean, just watching him not move. It was scary. Especially people know the type of player I am. I’m 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 it’s going to be a fun ride home.”
Dubon and Walker as well as Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado stood and watched as Arraez was placed on a backboard and carted out of the stadium. As he was being placed on the cart, Arraez put his arm around Shildt. And then, play resumed after a 10-minute delay.
“It was a sad moment, especially getting close to him and seeing him on the ground like that, you definitely get scared,” said Tatis, who hit the tiebreaking home run in the game. “You almost go into tears but holding up. You sit down right next to him and start praying for him right away. Happy he is back with us already. Just happy, he’s standing up. It’s a sad part of the game, but stuff happens sometimes. Just happy he’s alright.”
Tatis, who was running to second on the play, said he heard the collision.
“As soon as they called timeout, I went to see my boy and see what was going on,” he said.
Dubon said he knows Arraez.
“That’s what I’m saying,” Dubon said. “It sucks just having that play on him and everything. Like I said before, there’s nothing I could have done. I braced myself and I thought I was going to get the worst out of it. I mean, I’m not a big guy.”
Arraez entered hitting .287 with three home runs and seven RBIs this season. He is in his second season with the club after he was dealt to San Diego by the Miami Marlins last year.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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