SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Cincinnati Reds closer Aroldis Chapman suffered a fracture above his left eye after he was hit by a line drive off the bat of Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez in the sixth inning of Wednesday's spring training game.
Chapman didn't lose consciousness, Reds manager Bryan Price said, as he was taken off the field on a cart and transported to Banner Del E. Webb Medical Center in Sun City, where tests indicated fractures above his left eye and nose. He will undergo further testing. He will be kept there overnight for observation.
Reds manager Bryan Price and Royals manager Ned Yost met after Chapman left the field and decided not to continue the game.
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After the game, Price said he didn't know much about the status of Chapman, who was accompanied to the hospital by assistant trainer Tomas Vera, who has also served as his interpreter since Chapman joined the Reds in 2010. Chapman's father, who came from the stands to join the Reds closer, also rode out of the stadium on the cart with his son.
"We'll get our updates from there," Price said. "He never lost consciousness. He was able to communicate, he was able to move his hands, his feet, his legs. I'm not a doctor, so I don't want to go much further than that. It got him pretty flush pretty much just above the left eye, it looked like."
With two outs and bases loaded in the sixth inning, Perez lined a 99-mph fastball up the middle and appeared to hit Chapman in the face. Reds and Royals players and trainers rushed to the field. Even Chapman's father raced in to the mound from the stands.
Perez reacted on his way to first and after touching first, went to the mound to check on Chapman.
Reds outfielder Jay Bruce and the rest of the team came to the infield, but stayed out of the way as paramedics and trainers attended to Chapman, who was bleeding on the mound.
"It was an absolute bullet that Sal hit," Yost told reporters. "It's just a real sickening feeling for everybody."
Perez reacted on his way to first and after touching first, went to the mound to check on Chapman.
"It was the most frightening thing I've ever been a part of it. I never got close enough to see it. But the way it was explained to me -- as hard as he throws and as hard as that ball was hit off the bat -- I hope for the best."
It took 11 minutes for the paramedics to secure Chapman and get him on the cart. As paramedics worked, the crowd was silent and the sirens of an emergency vehicle could be heard. Chapman was taken out off the field through the left-field exit.
As Chapman was being carted off the field, umpires met with Price and Yost and immediately stopped the game with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning with the Royals leading 6-3.
"You can't find it in your heart to go out there and play," Price said. "Baseball's a game to be played with a lot of joy in your heart and determination and focus, and I don't think anyone was able to do that at that moment."
Umpire Chris Guccione said the decision was easy.
"Really, after Chapman was hit and everybody came out on the field, the paramedics and everybody, you saw Ned and Bryan get together, they along with the umpire crew decided that for everyone's safety and best interest, we'd go ahead and call tonight's game, and just be done with it," Guccione said. "We really wanted to focus on the ballplayer hit -- Chapman -- and just go on. It's really about it."
According to Yost, Perez, 23, was upset by the play.
"You can't really tell him 'Don't feel bad about it,'" Yost said told reporters. "Because we all feel bad about it. But it wasn't anything that he tried to do, or meant to do. It was just something that happened."
Rosecrans writes for the Cincinnati Enquirer, a Gannett affiliate
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