Detroit Tigers center fielder Parker Meadows was badly injured after colliding head-first with left fielder Riley Greene in the eighth inning of Thursday’s game against the Minnesota Twins.
The collision happened as both outfielders charged toward a slicing fly ball off the bat of Twins hitter Josh Bell. Greene made the catch, but his head struck Meadows in the face during the play. Meadows immediately went down, appearing dazed, with visible bleeding around his mouth. Medical staff attended to him on the field, and after a few minutes he was helped onto a cart and taken off. He was later transported to a Minneapolis hospital, where he is expected to stay overnight for observation.
Tigers manager AJ Hinch called the situation unsettling.
“There’s a lot of concern for him,” Hinch said, noting that Meadows appeared to have bitten his lip or the inside of his mouth and seemed “pretty out of it.” He added that such collisions are frightening because “you don’t know what you’re going to get when you get there,” and emphasized that Meadows will undergo thorough evaluation.
Following the injury, Javier Báez moved from shortstop to center field, and Kevin McGonigle entered at shortstop. Detroit, tied 1–1 when the play occurred, ultimately fell 3–1, completing a four-game sweep by Minnesota. The loss stretched the Tigers’ skid to five games and dropped them to 4–9 on the season.
Meadows, 26, has appeared in 12 games this year, batting .250 (9-for-36) with a double, a triple, and three steals. He came into the season with a .234/.310/.384 career slash line over 188 games, totaling 16 homers and 59 RBIs. Last year, he hit .215/.291/.330 in 58 games while battling multiple injuries.
Leave a Reply