Yankees Catcher Reacts To Scary Injury To Red Sox’s Tanner Houck

New York Yankees catcher Kyle Higashioka was relieved the hear the positive news regarding Boston Red Sox pitcher Tanner Houck following a freighting scene at Fenway Park on Friday night.

Midway through Boston’s archrival matchup with New York, Houck was nailed in the face by a lined comebacker off the bat of Higashioka in the fifth inning, which took the Red Sox right-hander out of the game with blood dripping from his cheek, covered in a towel while being assisted off the field.

“We all want to compete on the field and you want to knock him out of the game by getting hits,” Higashioka explained following Boston’s 15-5 victory, according to Brendan Kuty of The Athletic. “You don’t want to see him go down with an injury. It’s just not something I enjoy seeing. I’m glad it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve possibly been.”

Higashioka’s comebacker traveled toward Houck at 89.7 mph off the bat, knocking him to the ground where he remained for a few moments until Boston manager Alex Cora arrived to check on him.

The Red Sox transported Houck to the hospital, whereupon further medical evaluation, it was revealed that he had suffered a facial contusion.

“You never want to see that happen,” Higashioka said.

Houck, albeit with a 13-3 lead over the Yankees at the time, was on pace for a high-quality outing but departed before reaching eligibility (five innings) to earn the win. He lasted four innings while holding New York to just one run off four hits and a walk with two strikeouts, tossing 59 pitches.

“He knew where he was right away and he kept saying he was fine,” Cora said postgame Friday. “We just have to make sure we slow him down. I saw him when he was getting stitches so he was, I mean — he got lucky. Let’s put it that way.”