HOUSTON — Taylor Ward was out of the lineup Monday, one day after being carted off the field and taken to a hospital via ambulance after colliding with the out-of-town scoreboard on the left-field wall at Daikin Park.
But Ward said he was feeling “way better,” slept well Sunday night and woke up with no headaches, admitting that he was “lucky” after receiving nearly 20 stitches near his eyebrow area.
Ward was tested multiple times for a concussion Sunday, but he passed and expected to pass the same tests again Monday.
“They didn’t give me an exact number [of stitches], but he worked on me for a while,” Ward said. “I’m going to say around 20, somewhere around there. They had to go in. There was a muscle he had to stitch up and then a vein as well. I got it pretty deep.”
Ward was ranging back on a fly ball hit by Ramón Urías in the eighth inning Sunday when he turned around and collided headfirst into the corner of the scoreboard. Ward immediately grabbed his head with one hand and waved to the bullpen with his other as he walked back toward the Angels’ bullpen. His teammates got to him first, putting pressure on the cut with a towel.
“I was trying to find the gap, and I thought I had room in that little corner there,” Ward said. “Obviously, I didn’t. The ball was hit pretty hard, too, so I should have definitely peeked. It’s a learning situation. I should have peeked, and I think that would have helped a lot if I would have, but I didn’t. I tried to go for the ball, and the wall was there.”
Ward said he hoped to just need a few days of rest and recovery before returning to the lineup. The 31-year-old outfielder is hitting .228 with a team-high 30 homers and 94 RBIs this season.
“Having gone through it yesterday and watching everything, it certainly looked a lot worse than it turned out,” interim manager Ray Montgomery said. “We’re thankful for that. Then, going through it with Taylor last night, he took it like a champ. Obviously, the stitches are what they are. … I’m really happy and it’s fortunate for him that it turned out to be as good as we could hope for.”
