Gerrit Cole barely avoided getting beaned in the head by a line drive
Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander Gerrit Cole had a rough go of it on the mound against the Detroit Tigers Thursday. Cole narrowly avoided what could have been a devastating injury in the top of the sixth inning when he was nearly hit in the face by a Jordan Zimmerman line drive.
The ball ended up grazing Cole's hat, which was knocked off his head on the play, before it landed in center field. Cole luckily seemed more spooked than anything, and after sitting in shock on the mound for a minute, he told trainers he was ready to continue his outing.
The Pirates' ace subsequently forced a double play and allowed a single to Justin Upton before forcing Miguel Cabrera to line out to end the inning. Cole did not return for the seventh inning.
The pitcher also had a frustrating fourth inning when he either had a miscommunication with first baseman John Jaso or the camo jerseys the Pirates were wearing worked better than intended. Cole attempted to pick off Justin Upton at first base only to throw the ball to absolutely no one.
Upton advanced to third on the play. He later scored off a Nick Castellanos double.
Pittsburgh ultimately lost the game, 7-4, and Cole moved to 0-2 on the season by allowing two earned runs and four hits over six innings of work. But he has to be thankful he was simply able to leave the game in one piece after the scare in the sixth inning.
