Ward slammed face-first into the wall while chasing a liner hit by Houston’s Ramon Urias in the eighth inning. While Urias motored into second, Ward immediately got up and waved toward the Angels dugout for help as blood poured down his face.
Relievers Andrew Chafin and Kenley Jansen ran out of the Angels’ bullpen with towels to assist Ward. The contest was delayed nearly 10 minutes as trainers and paramedics attended to Ward.
Angels interim manager Ray Montgomery was unsure whether Ward sustained a concussion and was hopeful that he didn’t hurt his eye. Ward held a towel over his right eye while being treated.
“The only saving grace was that he was totally relaxed when he hit it,” Montgomery told reporters after the 3-0 victory. “He didn’t, like, brace himself and it looked like something on the wall may have clipped his eye or cut his eye. I’m hoping he’s fine.”
Fellow Angels outfielder Jo Adell was highly critical of the Houston ballpark. Adell was injured in September 2021 while colliding with the same portion of the wall.
“He’s doing what he’s supposed to do,” Adell told reporters. “He’s being aggressive on a play. 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 (expletive) 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.
“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? I don’t know. In my opinion.”
Ward was 0-for-1 with three walks on Sunday. He has established career bests of 30 homers and 94 RBIs despite a meager .228 batting average.
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This isn’t Ward’s first facial injury. He was drilled in the face by a pitch from Alek Manoah of the Toronto Blue Jays on July 29, 2023.
Ward sustained three broken facial bones and missed the rest of the season. He later told reporters that he underwent reconstructive facial surgery and had two plates inserted. He later had another plate inserted into his skull.
