Sports

Rick Porcello of the Boston Red Sox reacts after being hit with a line drive during the second inning of a spring training game against the Chicago Cubs on March 25, 2019 at Sloan Park in Mesa, Arizona. (Billie Weiss / Boston Red Sox / Getty Images)

Watch: Red Sox Star Takes Scary Line Drive to the Head

By Dave Kovaleski March 26, 2019 at 10:15am

There was a frightening moment during the Boston Red Sox spring training game against the Chicago Cubs on Monday.

In the bottom of the second inning, Cubs catcher Wilson Contreras drilled a line drive up the middle that hit Sox pitcher Rick Porcello in the head.

The shot seemed to bounce hard off of Porcello’s head and into the outfield for a single.

This was absolutely terrifying!

Thankfully Rick Porcello is okay ?pic.twitter.com/EYXT2KRwKr

— Baseball Bros (@BaseballBros) March 26, 2019

Amazingly, Porcello, who was knocked to the ground by the shot, got up and laughed it off.

Training staff examined him and said he was okay, but not before Porcello gave them a scare — twitching in pain when the trainer touched his head. He was joking.

Rick Porcello doesn’t get CTE pic.twitter.com/PCxBUDxxZJ

— Icculus The Brave (@FirenzeMike) March 26, 2019

“He barked like a dog and scared the living whatever out of me,” Sox coach Alex Cora told The Associated Press. “I told him, ‘Now I’m going to be on TV for the rest of my career for the wrong reasons.’”

“He barked like a dog and he scared the living whatever out of me.”

Getting hit in the head with a line drive didn’t do any damage to Rick Porcello’s sense of humor. https://t.co/iUCZUmxWPB pic.twitter.com/hoieviHkBb

— NESN (@NESN) March 26, 2019

Porcello threw a few warm up pitches and stayed in the game. He threw four innings and gave up two runs on four hits. The Cubs won 3-2.

“It ricocheted,” Porcello said, according to the AP. “I got up, I felt fine, I wasn’t wobbly or dizzy or anything like that. I was fine.”

Cubs pitcher Cole Hamels, who hit a home run off Porcello, called his counterpart resilient.

Cole Hamels takes Rick Porcello deep ? pic.twitter.com/tr30zTzWpC

— Baseball Bros (@BaseballBros) March 26, 2019

“He’s tough,” Hamels said, reported the AP. “I don’t know where it hit him. We don’t have instant replay — and I’m glad we don’t so we didn’t have to relive it. He looked fine when he was coming off.”

Will the Red Sox repeat as World Series champions?

Porcello won the Cy Young Award for the Red Sox in 2016 when he went 22-4 with a 3.15 ERA. Last year he went 17-7 with a 4.28 ERA.

Porcello is part of a Red Sox rotation that features Chris Sale, David Price, Nathan Eovaldi, and Eduardo Rodriguez.

The defending World Series champions are 7-1 odds to repeat, second only to the Houston Astros and New York Yankees, who have 6-1 odds. They open the season Thursday in Seattle.

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Tags:

Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, MLB

Dave Kovaleski

Contributor, Sports

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Dave is a lifelong sports fan who has been writing for The Wildcard since 2017. He has been a writer for more than 20 years for a variety of publications.

Dave has been writing about sports for The Wildcard since 2017. He's been a reporter and editor for over 20 years, covering everything from sports to financial news. In addition to writing for The Wildcard, Dave has covered mutual funds for Pensions and Investments, meetings and conventions, money market funds, personal finance, associations, and he currently covers financial regulations and the energy sector for Macallan Communications. He has won awards for both news and sports reporting.

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Massachusetts

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English

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Sports