Net again: Another fan hit
CLEVELAND — Francisco Lindor wasn’t thinking about his home run that helped the Indians beat Royals 5-4 on Sunday. Instead, the All-Star shortstop was only concerned about the young child who was struck by a line drive he hit.
In the latest instance this season around the majors of a fan being injured by a foul ball, Lindor said he was told his liner sent a 3-year-old boy to the hospital.
“It stinks, man,” Lindor said. “You don’t want to get nobody hurt. I have heard the kid is doing well. He’s in the hospital. He’s getting checked and all I know is he’s in stable condition and he’s doing good.”
An adult holding the child immediately left the seating area after Lindor’s drive down the right field line in the sixth inning.
The protective netting at Progressive Field runs to the end of each dugout. Lindor’s line drive landed several sections beyond the netting and was about 12 to 15 rows into the stands.
The White Sox became the first team in the majors with netting that goes from foul pole to foul pole on Monday.
Last month, a 2-year-old girl was sent to the hospital with head injuries by a foul ball in Houston.
Lindor echoed the calls of many major leaguers to extend the netting.
“You want to have that interaction with the fans, getting autographs and stuff,” Lindor said, “but at the end of the day, we want to make sure everybody comes out of this game healthy, and we got to do something about it.”
Lindor said he changed his approach when he stepped back in the box.
“That at-bat, I didn’t want to pull the ball at all.”