Shoemaker suffers skull fracture in Angels’ win over Mariners

Published 1:30 am Sunday, September 4, 2016

SEATTLE — Early runs continued to hurt the Seattle Mariners on Sunday as they dropped their second straight game to the Los Angeles Angels.

Solo homers by Albert Pujols and C.J. Cron in the first inning sparked the Angels to a 4-2 win over the Mariners, who are slowly drifting out of playoff contention.

But pitching woes and playoff races quickly became secondary in the second inning when Angels starting pitcher Matt Shoemaker exited the game with a terrifying injury. After Shoemaker had retired the first four batters — including two strikeouts — Kyle Seager hit a line drive on a 3-2 fastball that struck Shoemaker in the head. With almost no time to react — the ball came off of Seager’s bat at 105 mph — Shoemaker turned, and the ball hit the right side of his head, popped up into the air and landed near Seattle’s dugout on the first-base side.

Shoemaker stumbled briefly before sitting down, though he remained conscious as trainers rushed to the mound. After several minutes, Shoemaker walked off of the field with trainers on either side of him and a towel pressed to his head.

He was later transported to a local hospital, alert and responsive, with a laceration to his head. The initial diagnosis was a slight skull fracture. It was announced he will see a neurologist and be kept overnight for observation.

“That’s awful,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. “You kind of have to catch your breath for a second. We’re relieved to hear that it looks like everything is under control with Matt as far as what’s happening. … It just gives you that feeling where you have a pit in your stomach.”

Seager stood near first base, visibly shaken, talking to Los Angeles players as Shoemaker was examined. Seager said he sent Shoemaker a text message and hoped he was doing OK.

“That was terrifying,” Seager said. “That was probably the scariest thing I’ve ever seen on a baseball field. Our thoughts and prayers go out to him. That’s well bigger than baseball. That was real.”

Shoemaker gave a slight wave to the crowd, which stood and applauded, as he walked into the dugout. Los Angeles used six relievers to finish the final 8 2/3 innings.

Deolis Guerra (3-0) picked up the win, pitching 1 2/3 innings and allowing only one hit. Hisashi Iwakuma (14-11) — still searching for his 15th win, which would match his career-high — took the loss. He allowed three runs over seven innings and struck out four.

But like every Mariner starting pitcher in this three-game series, Iwakuma struggled to get out of the first inning, surrendering homers to Pujols and Cron.

“The mistakes we made on the mound, they did not hit singles, they hit the ball out of the ballpark,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “It’s tough to overcome the home runs.”

After the first inning, Iwakuma recovered nicely.

“The first inning, both of those pitches were up in the zone — a fastball and a slider up in the zone,” Iwakuma said through translator Antony Suzuki. “You don’t want to give up any more runs than two going forward, so just being aware to keep the balls down in the zone and attacking hitters, that approach got me through seven innings.”

The Mariners’ offense had trouble providing support. Runners were left on base multiple times. Robinson Cano, who homered in the sixth, and Nelson Cruz, who hit a solo homer in the eighth, produced Seattle’s only runs.

The loss was the Mariners’ eighth in their past 10 games.

“We have not played, I would say, ‘our game,’ in the last 10 to 12 ballgames,” Servais said.