Oakland A’s pitcher Chris Bassitt follows through on his first inning delivery against the Chicago White Sox on Tue Aug 17, 2021 at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago. Bassitt later would be hit in the head by a line drive by Brian Goodwin. The latest word is Bassitt is conscious and x-rays performed will determined if there were fractures from the line drive. (AP News photo)

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s had their ace, Chris Bassitt, on the mound as they tried to even the series with the White Sox at one apiece Tuesday night in Chicago. Bassitt, leading the American League in wins, ran into a little bit of a jam in the second inning.

He gave up singles to the first two batters he faced. The third hitter, Brian Goodwin, sent Bassitt’s pitch right back at him. The ball was traveling at 100 miles per hour. Bassitt tried to defend himself, but the ball hit him in the face. He dropped to the ground in obvious pain. The team trainer ran out and gave him a towel to stop the bleeding.

Bassitt was placed on a cart and taken to the hospital. The A’s announced that Bassitt was conscious and aware. The most important thing on everyone’s mind is his health. Former A’s manager and current White Sox skipper, Tony La Russa, said, “I hope he caught a break and is OK.” A’s manager Bob Melvin in a very brief press conference, said this: “we don’t think the eye is the problem. We will know about potential fractures tomorrow.”

In all the years that this writer has been following baseball, I have witnessed three other pitchers being hit in the head by a line drive. In 1957, lefty Herb Score was hit by a line drive off the bat of Gil McDougald. Score recovered but was never returned to the pitcher he was.

The A’s Brandon McCarthy was hit in the 2012 season. McCarthy suffered a skull fracture, and the injury was life-threatening. Fortunately, McCarthy recovered and resumed his career. In the 2012 World Series, Detroit Tigers pitcher Doug Fister was hit by a line drive. Fister stayed in the game and was lucky not to have had a serious injury.

The A’s still had to play a baseball game. Everyone knew their hearts were with Bassitt. It’s very hard to concentrate on playing a game when your teammate has suffered such a serious injury.

The summary of the game will be brief. The Sox scored five times in the second. Former A’s third baseman, Jake Lamb, hit a three-run blast off Burch Smith, who took over from Bassitt. The Sox led 5-0 after two. Jose Abreu hit a three-run homer in the fourth to make it 8-0. The Sox added a run in the sixth to finish with a 9-0 run.

Wednesday night A’s will battle the White Sox in game three of this four game series with the A’s starting Cole Irvin (8-11 ERA 3.52) for the Sox Lance Lynn (10-3 ERA 2.26) first pitch 5:10 at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago.

There will be no game notes or stats. The staff of Sports Radio Service and all of baseball are hoping and praying for Chris.