Watch Red Sox’s Christian Vazquez Narrowly Avoid Batting Practice Disaster

It’s been a rough couple of weeks for Christian Vazquez.

First, the Red Sox catcher received stitches under his left eye toward the end of spring training after being drilled in the face by an errant throw during pitchers’ fielding practice.

Then, before Monday night’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays, Vazquez literally almost blew away when a sudden wind storm swept through Fenway Park.

Check out the video below, which shows Vazquez nearly being pinned up against the portable backstop by an out-of-control hitting mat.

Fortunately, Vazquez was OK. After all, he’s a big league catcher, so he’s used to withstanding more punishment than most.

Nevertheless, it’s definitely much easier to laugh about the situation now, with the benefit of hindsight, than it was in the moment. That wind was no joke.

To his credit, Vazquez brushed off the incident and went 2-for-4 with two runs scored as the Red Sox defeated the Rays 11-2 for their first win of the 2021 Major League Baseball season.

Vazquez enters Tuesday’s middle matchup against Tampa Bay having gone 5-for-11 to open the new campaign, an encouraging start as the Red Sox look to gain their footing after being swept over the weekend by the Baltimore Orioles.