Cardinals outfielder Stephen Piscotty was a little shaken, but perfectly fine Wednesday when he arrived at Busch Stadium, and is cleared to play in Thursday’s makeup game against the Chicago Cubs.
Piscotty was involved in one of the most bizarre trips around the bases in baseball history when he was hit in both elbows and the head on three different plays, and suffered a head contusion. He passed all of his concussion tests Wednesday.
“I’m glad I’m ok,’’ Piscotty said, “but it was hard to believe the events. I haven’t seen that before, to actually live it, was something pretty crazy.
“It was just hard to believe that it could happen in one trip around the bases. After it was over, it’s kind of funny to look back on it since I’m OK.
“It’s something I’m not going to forget.’’
It began when Tuesday night Cubs starter Jake Arrieta hit Piscotty in the right elbow and he went to first base. He went to second on a wild pitch, with Cubs catcher Willson Contreras nailing his left elbow. And when second baseman Javier Baez couldn’t handle a grounder by Kolten Wong, Piscotty took off for home. Baez’s throw hit Piscotty in the ear flap, leaving him crumpled at home plate for at least a minute.
“I think it stunned me,’’ Piscotty said. “I definitely didn’t black out, but I was kind of stunned and didn’t realize really what happened. After a few seconds I kind of figured I just got hit in the face or something like that. Thankfully, I had the helmet, the flap was there and took most of the force of it.
“Just kind of got my cheek bone here a little bit. Checked out pretty good actually.’’
Said Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright: “It was probably the roughest turn around the bases I’ve ever seen. I’m just glad he’s Ok.’’
Piscotty, who signed a six-year, $33.5 million contract extension Monday, went through a much more frightening situation on Sept. 28, 2015 when he and teammates Peter Bourjos had a violent collision in the outfield. Piscotty was carted off the field with a neck brace, but there miraculously were no severe injuries.
“That was one of the scariest things I’ve ever seen,’’ Wainwright said. “I thought he was dead. I think everybody did.’’
Certainly, the events of Tuesday, Piscotty said, paled in comparison.
“That was a whole another level,’’ Piscotty said. “I don’t really remember a lot of that. This, I think was way more minor.’’
