Piscotty Passes Protocol

(Busch Stadium) After leaving last night’s game due to a head contusion, St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Stephen Piscotty had good news to share before today’s postponement.

“Feel much better,” shared Piscotty. “Was a little stunned last night, but feel really good right now and checked out on all the concussion stuff, so yeah, I feel really good.”

Somewhat shielded by Chicago Cubs catcher Wilson Contreras, Piscotty was hit on the side of the helmet by the relay throw from Javier Baez as he slid home. As the umpire signaled safe, Stephen lay motionless, facedown at the plate.

“It just kind of stunned me–I wasn’t really sure what had happened,” said Piscotty. “Coming into home like that, you don’t know if the catcher hit you with his glove or–I wasn’t sure if it was a collision or if I had gotten hit. Kind of figured it out later.”

“I could sense Contreras was coming up the line and I guess I braced for it a little bit, but wasn’t expecting the ball to hit me. I was more expecting a collision with the catcher.”

The play at home was the third time Piscotty was hit during that trip around the bases. He was initially hit by the pitch to go to first and then was struck again as he took second on a wild pitch.

“The left arm’s good, that hit a pad,” he explained. “When I got hit by the pitch, that one is a little sore. I got a little bruise down on the elbow, but it got mostly meat so it’ll be sore, but it’s not going to do any damage.”

Like the rest of his teammates, Piscotty found the experience of being hit three times in the same inning was rather unique.

“I’ve never seen it–to get to live it is kind of interesting,” he said. “I got a lot of texts and stuff. Once everybody knew I was okay, then it was kind of laughing about it. You have to, it’s hard not to.”

Piscotty was not in the starting lineup for this afternoon’s game, but planned to take some swings in the batting cage and indicated that he could have been called upon to pinch-hit.

photo credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports