In last night's Yankees-Orioles Game 4, Joba Chamberlain was pitching in the 12th inning when Orioles catcher Matt Wieters came up to bat. The score was tied 1-1, and Wieters, one of the O's best hitters, had a chance to spark some rare offense.
Wieters hits a nice ball into shallow left. But when he makes contact with the ball, his bat breaks near the handle, and the thick part flies at Chamberlain...
...hitting him in the arm while his back is turned.
His hand goes numb pretty much immediately. As you can imagine, it isn't easy to throw a baseball when your hand is numb.
To his credit, as soon as Wieters sees the bat break, he yells "Watch out" at Joba.
Wieters feels bad :(
Chamberlain tried to go back to the mound, but after a few trial pitches, the Yankees' trainers pulled him. Look at his elbow — it looks like there's an apple underneath his skin.
Although Wieters' single ended up not mattering — the Yankees closed out the O's that inning — Baltimore took it in the 13th. Game 5 is tonight in New York.
For his part, Joba made light of his apparently terrible luck — he has a history of weird and unlikely injuries.
“I don’t know if I’d hang out with me very much. I might need a bubble. It happens. Obviously, it’s part of the game, you take care of it and hopefully I can get after it (Friday) … But right now, it’s Bat 1, me nothing.”