Cardinals right fielder Stephen Piscotty, hit in both arms and then in the batting helmet by errant Chicago Cubs throws on Tuesday night, said he had been checked out by doctors after being hit in the head and had been cleared to play, although his word was unofficial.
"I feel like I'll be ready," said Piscotty, before he had heard Wednesday's game was postponed by rain until Thursday.
He admitted the fifth-inning throw home from second baseman Javier Baez had "stunned me. I wasn't expecting to get hit. I wasn't sure I had gotten hit. I wasn't sure if I'd hit the catcher or what happened, so yeah, it just kind of stunned me.
"I'm not sure I have much of a concussion, if any. They were saying it's a contusion, just kind of got my cheek bone here a little bit. Checked out pretty good actually."
Although Piscotty was face down on the ground for several minutes, he didn't black out.
"After a few seconds, I kind of figured I just got hit in the face or something like that, but thankfully ... the helmet flap was there and took most of the force of it," he said.
Observers hadn't recalled the same hitter/runner being hit three times _ once in the right arm by the pitcher (Jake Arrieta), once by the catcher (Willson Contreras) and once by the second baseman _ in the same trip around the bases.
"I haven't seen that before," Piscotty said. "To actually live it was something pretty crazy. I'm glad I'm OK, but yeah, it was hard to believe the events. It was just like 'Are you kidding me?' type thing. It's something I'm not going to forget."
Piscotty's cheek was bruised after the throw hit the ear flap and, afterward, he was asked a series of questions by head athletic trainer Adam Olsen in a concussion-type test.
"You've got to say certain words and number sequences in reverse order that you heard them," Piscotty said. "(They) ask you silly questions, where you are, who you're playing, that type of thing. And then some balance stuff. It's pretty extensive."
Piscotty said the most pain actually came from being hit in the right elbow by Arrieta.
"So I'm going to loosen that up and make sure that's OK," Piscotty said.
The only known concussion Piscotty has suffered as a big leaguer was when he collided with fellow outfielder Peter Bourjos in Pittsburgh in 2015.
"That was a whole another level," Piscotty said. "I don't really remember a lot of that. This I think was way more minor."
Manager Mike Matheny still was cautious about Piscotty's return.
"The training staff came in said he had good responses to the testing, so I don't know the official (decision)," said Matheny. "But everything looked good to the point where there wasn't anything to hold him back. So that's the news I was given, which is great news.
"We'll still need to take today and have him take it easy and see how he feels tomorrow, but it's good to get the other guys involved too."
Matt Adams was to have started in left field on Wednesday, with Randal Grichuk moving to right field to replace Piscotty.
