MINNEAPOLIS — The collision looked violent, the injury gruesome. But it's Josh Naylor's unbearable pain that will linger with both teams at Target Field on Sunday.
"That's about as challenging and tough and really emotional of a spot that you're going to see on a baseball field," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said of the play that sent the Cleveland right fielder to the hospital. "Once you see that, you're not going to unsee it. It brings out feelings, too, and it's hard sometimes to refocus. We'll be thinking about him."
Jorge Polanco sent a check-swing blooper Naylor's way. He scrambled and gloved it on the fly in shallow right field. Just as he reached the ball, however, he collided with second baseman Ernie Clement, knocking Naylor into the air and the ball out of his glove.
Naylor spun in the air and landed hard, with his full weight falling on his right leg, which was awkwardly turned underneath him.
The leg clearly broken, Naylor immediately began rolling around the outfield in obvious pain as trainers rushed to help.
"It's hard. You saw the way he reacted — it's hard to not react to that," Cleveland manager Terry Francona said. "Everybody is certainly thinking about him."
Said Twins starter J.A. Happ: "I don't want to watch a replay of that. You don't feel good watching that. It didn't look or sound very good. We're hoping for the best for him."
Paramedics were summoned, and an inflatable cast was administered to Naylor's right leg before he was taken off on a cart, then taken by ambulance to Hennepin County Medical Center, where he remained several hours after the game. Francona said Naylor suffered a fracture but wasn't specific.
