The Angels shut out the Astros (LAA 3, HOU 0) Sunday afternoon at Daikin Park in Houston, but also lost 30-homer man Taylor Ward to a facial injury when he ran into the scoreboard on the left field wall. Ward was bloodied and had to be carted off the field with towels held to his face. Manager Ray Montgomery confirmed Ward needed stitches above his eye and he will undergo further evaluation.
Here’s the play. Ward was able to walk over to the bullpen, where teammates quickly put a towel to his face:
The frame around the numbers on the scoreboard are metal, rather than the padding that covers most of the outfield wall. Following the game, Angels outfielder Jo Adell said the team was shaken by Ward’s injury. Adell did not hold back, saying there should not be metal anywhere on the wall given the injury risk.
“He’s doing what he’s supposed to do. He’s being aggressive on a play,” Adell told reporters, including the Orange County Register. “Bottom line — and I’ve talked about this before — but there should be no out-of-town metal scoreboard anywhere on the baseball field. It’s the big leagues. This shit is ridiculous. A guy goes back to make a play and he’s got to worry about a metal fence. That’s crazy. So that’s my honest opinion about it. He did everything he could to make a play and he gets beat up by something that’s beyond controllable.”
Adell is correct, of course. Collisions with the wall happen. That’s just baseball and that’s why walls are padded. A hard metal surface right at face level is asking for a serious injury. It’s a minor miracle there hasn’t been one yet at Daikin Park, which opened in 2000.
Ward, 31, is in his eighth season with the Angels.