Oakland Athletics pitcher Chris Bassitt carted off after taking line drive to head

Oakland Athletics right-hander Chris Bassitt was carted off the field Tuesday night after he was struck on the side of the head by a line drive during the second inning of a 9-0 loss to the Chicago White Sox.

With two on and no outs, Bassitt threw an 89.5 mph cut fastball that Brian Goodwin drove right back up the middle. Bassitt went down on the mound right after he was hit, holding his head, and his teammates quickly waved to the dugout for assistance.

As players on each side looked on, Bassitt was attended to by an Oakland trainer and other personnel before he was helped into the back of a cart while holding a towel to his face. A’s center fielder Starling Marte had his hands on his head as Bassitt was driven by him.

The team said during the game that Bassitt was “conscious and aware,” and was taken to a hospital.

“Bass is conscious. He was the entire time,” A's manager Bob Melvin said after the game. “We don’t think the eye is a problem at this point. It felt like it was below it. He’s got some cuts. They had to do some stitches. He’s in a scan and we’ll know more about potential fractures or whatever tomorrow, or later tonight.”

All things A's: Latest Oakland Athletics news, schedule, roster, stats, injury updates and more.

Melvin took no questions during his postgame Zoom session with the media, and the A’s made no players available.

The 32-year-old Bassitt, who broke into the majors with the White Sox in 2014, is in the midst of a breakout season for Oakland. He was 12-3 with a 3.06 ERA in 24 starts heading into the game, leading the AL in victories.

Burch Smith replaced Bassitt on the mound.

White Sox infielder Jake Lamb, who played with Bassitt last year in Oakland, said it was hard to concentrate after the play.

“It’s a lot more than baseball at that point,” Lamb said. “It’s a friend, it’s an old teammate. Any time you get hit in the head like that, it’s a very scary situation. Ironically, walking up to the plate my first at-bat, that was a very tough at-bat because my mind is elsewhere. Not really thinking about the game. It’s a scary situation, man. Simple as that.” 

White Sox pitcher Reynaldo López also said he was shaken by what happened.

“When you see something like that, it’s hard to digest because … as a pitcher, we know that that can happen,” he said through a translator. “It’s like, that could happen to me and it’s scary. Every time you see something like that is tough to swallow.”