The full-fledged MLB season is less than a week old, so the candidates for ‘funniest moment of the year’ are slim. But, we appear to have a clubhouse leader so far.
In Wednesday afternoon’s game between the Los Angeles Angels and the St. Louis Cardinals, Angels shortstop Nicky Lopez was up at bat.
Standing in the box on an 0-2 count in the top of the third, pitcher Sonny Gray delivered the third pitch of the at-bat for a strike in to catcher Ivan Herrera.
Herrera went to go toss the ball back to Gray, but inadvertently hit the bat of Lopez – causing the bat to rebound and hit Lopez in the head.
Lopez’s helmet got knocked off his head from the contact and he stepped out of the batters box for a second to collect himself.
Angels SS Nicky Lopez was hit in the head by his bat after a throw from the Cardinals catcher
Catcher Ivan Herrera struck Lopez’s bat with his throw, causing the bat to hit Lopez’s helmet
On top of that, Herrera hit three home runs to help the Cardinals clinch a 12-5 win over LA
On the slow motion, the contact with Lopez was seen clearer – and drew laughs from the commentary team.
Adding insult to potential injury, Lopez then struck out swinging on a 2-2 pitch just three pitches later.
Lopez finished the day going 0-for-4 in a poor batting display for the Angels.
St. Louis was able to beat Los Angeles 12-5 to notch their fourth win of the season – thanks largely in part to Herrera.
The catcher socked three home runs on the day – delivering the big hits in the fourth, sixth and eighth innings.
