Former Yankee Luke Voit may not be producing with the bat in his new role as the Padres’ full-time DH, but he’s still delivering big hits at the plate.
Trying to score from first on a double early in the Padres’ win over the Reds Tuesday night, Voit was beat by several steps. With home-plate collisions largely banned, Voit tried a creative method of jarring the ball loose: sliding but hitting the catcher with his arms high.
It didn’t work, as Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson held on to the ball and Voit was out. But the hit did injure Stephenson — who’s now in the concussion protocols for at least seven days — and make the Reds angry. Very angry.
“Not too often that you see a runner slide and grab someone’s head and slam it to the ground like that…it looked like a wrestling move to Tyler’s head,” shortstop Kyle Farmer said.
Former Padre and current Red Tommy Pham was far more direct, and offered a solution arguably safer than drilling Voit with a pitch.
“The way his hands hit him, it was dirty as f—k,” Pham said. “If Luke wants to settle it, I get down really well. Anything. Muay Thai, whatever. Like I said, I’ve got an owner here who will let me use his facility. So f—k ‘em. I’m out.”
Voit, listed at 6-3, 255 pounds, said he “wasn’t trying to take him out or anything,” but, ah, gee, “I guess my elbow just kind of smoked his head a little bit.”
“I didn’t have a problem with the slide,” Reds manager David Bell said. “But it’s a helpless feeling when one of your players gets hit in the head and they’re lying there. It’s scary for me.”
Stephenson obviously couldn’t talk to reporters after the game. But tweeting from concussion protocols, he said:
“Only thing that matters is he was out.”
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