CLEVELAND — When Cleveland’s David Fry crumpled to the dirt after being struck in the face during a bunt attempt on Tuesday night, Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal dropped his glove in distress — and later reached out by text to make sure Fry was all right.
Fry, the Guardians’ designated hitter, was at the plate in the game-changing sixth inning when he squared for a surprise, mid-count bunt. The pitch appeared to glance off his bat and hit him directly in the face.
He fell to the dirt and covered his face with his hands. When he removed them, trickles of blood were visible.
Fry was taken off the field on a cart. The Guardians reported that he had been sent to a local hospital for evaluation and then transferred to the Cleveland Clinic, where he was expected to stay overnight.
“I’ve already reached out to him. I’m sure his phone’s blowing up. I just want to make sure he’s all right. He seemed okay coming off the field, and hopefully it stays that way,” Skubal said. “I look forward to, hopefully tonight or tomorrow morning, getting a text from him and making sure he’s all good. There are things that are bigger than the game, and his health is more important than a baseball game.”
In the replay of the gruesome incident, Skubal’s reaction was just as notable as Fry’s. He threw down his glove and walked away from the mound in distress.
The injury to Fry came in a wild sixth inning in which Skubal committed an error, a wild pitch and a balk — all of them costly.
The Tigers entered the inning with a 2-0 lead, but two Guardians reached on bunts to open the frame.
The second bunt, by Angel Martinez, was well placed down the first-base line. Skubal, one of the game’s best fielding pitchers, tried to make a play by flipping the ball between his legs. But the ball sailed over first baseman Spencer Torkelson’s head, allowing the runners to advance.
José Ramírez followed with an infield single to score one run. After the delay for Fry’s injury, Skubal uncorked a wild pitch that tied the game. Still, nobody was out. Skubal struck out George Valera, who finished Fry’s at-bat, then balked Ramírez to third.
Did Fry’s injury and the subsequent disruption contribute to the wild pitch and balk?
“I don’t think that was a cause of it at all,” Skubal said.
Gabriel Arias then hit a soft bouncer to Torkelson at first, slow enough for Ramírez to score easily. Skubal ended his night with a strikeout, as he so often does, but he left trailing 3-2 — despite the fact that the ball never left the infield.
“A lot of unfortunate things kind of happened there, some unlucky things, and I end up giving up three and giving up the lead,” he said.
The Tigers never retook the lead, losing their seventh consecutive game and falling out of first place for the first time since April 22.
“Obviously, losing isn’t fun, and we’ve been losing a lot,” Skubal said. “But at the same time, I thought I did a really good job of competing. I left it all out there, everything I had. That’s something I can hang my hat on — me leaving it all on the field. Win or lose, sometimes you come up on the short end of it, and that’s just part of the game of baseball.
“We’ve got to flush today’s game, and get ready to play again tomorrow. The team across the way doesn’t feel bad for us, so there’s no reason we should feel bad for ourselves. We’ve still got an opportunity to come out there and win tomorrow, win the series, and that’s what really matters.”