Fan injured badly by A’s broken bat
Ambidextrous Oakland pitcher debuts in loss to Red Sox
BOSTON — The game, a 4-2 Red Sox victory over the Oakland Athletics, took a back seat to other events at Fenway Park on Friday. One of them was tragic. In the second inning, a woman suffered what Boston police called “life-threatening injuries” when she was hit in the head by a Brett Lawrie broken bat in the box seats.
She was bleeding heavily and taken from the field by medical personnel. Her screams could be heard. The man she was with was holding a small child, who was also held by a policeman, shielding the child’s eyes from the scene.
“You try to keep her in your thoughts, and, hopefully, everything’s all right and (you) try to get back to the task at hand,” said Lawrie, who went on to collect three hits, including his fifth homer of the season, for Oakland.
He said he didn’t know what had happened until he turned around near first base and saw “the commotion.”
“It’s a scary moment,” Boston manager John Farrell said. “All you can think about is a family. They come to a ballgame to hopefully get three hours of enjoyment, and unfortunately with how close our stands are to the field of action, an accident like this tonight is certainly disturbing. ... Our thoughts and concerns are with her and her family.”
Red Sox center fielder Mookie Betts, who was coming up to the plate as the woman was wheeled out, said he heard the screams and turned his head because of the blood.
In the seventh inning, Pat Venditte entered the game and pitched both left-handed and right-handed in two scoreless innings, the first major leaguer to do so in 20 years. The Fenway Park organist greeted him with “Both Sides Now.”
“A special night to have your debut be at a place like Fenway and finally get to be a part of this team,” said Venditte, whose parents, wife and in-laws were at the game. “My flight landed about 6:15. I got to the ballpark just after the first pitch. It’s been a crazy 24 hours but well worth it.
“You play it over 100 times in your head how it’s going to happen. To be honest, I don’t really remember a whole lot of it, just a lot of happy emotions, just being able to tell my family and friends the work is starting to pay off.”
Betts said he faced Venditte “a bunch of times” without success in the minor leagues and hinted he thought he should have made the big time before this.
Venditte, 29, pitched left-handed to get third baseman Brock Holt to ground out and then switched to right-handed for the remaining five hitters, the last being switch-hitting catcher Blake Swihart, who batted left-handed and struck out.
“That was truly amazing tonight,” Farrell said. “To watch Venditte, it’s a remarkable thing to see what one person’s body is capable of doing. The coordination ... even guys in the dugout were kind of marveling. This is a unique thing and a really cool thing, actually.”
Venditte, who wears a specially designed six-finger baseball glove that can switch hand to hand, allowed one hit.
Several baseballs were tossed out of play in his first inning, apparently to commemorate the occasion. Oh, the game. Left-hander Wade Miley (5-5) pitched 7 1/3 strong innings, and Dustin Pedroia had three hits as the Red Sox snapped their twogame losing and Oakland’s fourgame winning streaks. Miley allowed two runs on six hits with a walk and six strikeouts.
Junichi Tawaza finished the eighth for Miley, and Koji Uehara, who lost in his last two appearances, pitched an eventful ninth for his 12th save.
He gave up a two-out double high off the wall in left to catcher Josh Phegley to put runners on second and third with two outs, but first baseman Mark Canha, who had an earlier RBI single, hit a soft liner that was run down in left center by left fielder Alejandro De Aza.