Emilio Pagan took a liner off the side of his face and stayed in the game.
Pagan, a right-handed reliever for the Tampa Bay Rays, was pitching in the sixth inning of Friday night’s game against the Twins when Jonathan Schoop smoked a liner up the middle. Pagan had no time to get out of the way, and just as his glove was going up to protect his face, the ball struck him somewhere near his right cheek.
https://twitter.com/MattJ_Sports/status/1134624790679973889
A bit red in the face – from the ball – Pagan got right back up and got the next batter, Byron Buxton, to ground out to end the inning.
What’s more is that Pagan then came back out to start the seventh inning for the Rays.
It’s impossible to say for sure from the video, but maybe the liner caught a piece of Pagan’s glove before it hit him in the face, possibly limiting the blow that could’ve been.
