Los Angeles Angels outfielder Taylor Ward was carted off the field on Sunday afternoon in Houston after he crashed face-first into the scoreboard wall at Daikin Park.
In the eighth inning of the Angels’ 3-0 win over the Astros, Ward went sprinting back to try and make a catch after Astros second baseman Ramon Urías hit a deep ball toward the wall. Ward ended up turning and slamming into the metal scoreboard head-first, which sent him immediately crashing back into the dirt as the ball rolled back.
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Urías ended up with a double. Ward, who quickly bounced back up to his feet, turned and headed for the team’s bullpen behind him while calling for help with blood gushing out of his head. He was eventually carted off the field.
The team said later that Ward’s right eye appeared to be OK, and that there was a cut above it that needed stitches. Further specifics of his injury are not yet known, though he was taken to a local hospital via an ambulance.
“Obviously he hit the wall pretty good,” interim manager Ray Montgomery said, via The Associated Press. “He’s got a cut above his eye.”
While there are plenty of signs and varying outfield walls throughout the league, it’s the fact that there is a metal scoreboard so low to the ground in Houston that left fellow Angels outfielder Jo Adell extremely upset and calling out the Astros ballpark after the game. Adell was injured by the same wall in 2021 while playing in left field, too.
“He’s doing what he’s supposed to do. He’s being aggressive on a play,” Adell said, via the OC Register. “At the 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 s*** is ridiculous.
“A guy goes back to make a play and he’s got to worry about a metal fence. That’s crazy … I pulled an oblique on it. I hit my head. I missed a month and a half of the season. At what point is it just not acceptable anymore?”
Ward currently holds a .228 batting average with a career-high 30 home runs and 94 RBI this season, his eighth in the league with the Angels. The win on Sunday moved the Angels to 64-72, which has them in fourth in the AL West and well back in the wild-card race. They’ll wrap up the four-game series with the Astros on Monday afternoon.