Chris McCosky | The Detroit News
Lakeland, Fla. — On Thursday, Blue Jays right-hander Elvis Luciano hit Tigers infielder Zack Short in the head with a 90-plus mph pitch. Short, fortunately, escaped serious injury.
Catcher Grayson Greiner might not have been as lucky.
A first-pitch fastball, 94 mph, from Luciano in the bottom of the sixth inning Sunday struck Greiner in the face. It was unclear without video replay whether the pitch hit flush or clipped part of the helmet before striking the center of his face.
Either way, Greiner went down in a lot of pain, holding his hands over his face.
“He was in a lot of pain when we got out there,” manager AJ Hinch said. “He was, honestly, he was frightened. He just got hit in the face. The trainers were right on top of it. They tried to get him calm to get a look at him on the field.”
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Greiner eventually got to his feet and walked to the dugout. Soon, with a towel covering his face, he was led to the clubhouse by head athletic trainer Doug Teter.
“We don’t have a full update yet,” Hinch said after the Tigers 5-1 spring win. “He’s still here with the doctors. He got hit in the face and they have to check him out for a variety of things. We will have a full report as the doctors give us the diagnosis.”
Greiner, 28, has played parts of the last three seasons with the Tigers. He is in a battle for the back-up catcher spot with Jake Rogers, Dustin Garneau and Eric Haase.
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @cmccosky