Twins catcher Christian Vazquez learned the lesson of “listen within the on-deck circle” the hard way on Wednesday afternoon
Vazquez, 32, was struck within the helmet with a line drive foul ball off the bat of teammate Donovan Solano while taking his warm-up swings in the course of the third inning of their game against the Tigers at Goal Field.
Vazquez had mere milliseconds to react to the oddly hit ball.
Luckily for him, the ball ricocheted off the brim of his helmet, lower than an inch away from his face, in what might have been an unsightly incident.
“He higher go buy a Powerball ticket,” Twins analyst Justin Morneau quipped.
Those on the sector and in the group gave the impression to be in shock for just a few seconds, but Vazquez quickly recovered.
The backstop appeared to be in good spirits inside moments and stayed in the sport.
He then flew out to right field one batter later and caught the remainder of the sport for Minnesota.
The Twins led 4-3 on the time of the episode but ended up on the losing side, 8-7.
Minnesota now sits at 63-59, 4 games up on the Cleveland Guardians within the American League Central.