Segura gets stitches, DL unlikely after bat accident

MILWAUKEE -- Jean Segura suffered a gash near his eyes and needed stitches when he was inadvertently hit in the face by a bat swung by Ryan Braun in the Brewers' dugout during the first inning of the Brewers' 5-3 win against the Cubs on Saturday night. Segura is listed as day to day.

Braun was warming up on the dugout steps by swinging the bat over his head in a rotational fashion, and when he swung it down with his left arm, it struck Segura in the face. The 2013 National League All-Star shortstop was attempting to walk behind Braun when he was hit.

"You never want to see something like that, you know?" said Braun, who exited himself with an intercostal strain in the ninth and is considered day to day. "It breaks your heart a little bit, and obviously it's never something that's done intentionally.

"Whenever you're involved in a situation like that, I think it puts life in perspective and you realize how insignificant baseball is," he said. "Thank God we heard he's OK. It could have been a lot worse or a lot worse places he could have been hit."

Segura was helped out of the dugout and into the clubhouse by three people.

"Good news coming back, no concussion, no fracture, but he was laid open pretty good," manager Ron Roenicke said. "A plastic surgeon stitched him up."

Roenicke said he was unsure how long Segura would be out of action, but the doctors said swelling would go down in 2-3 days, and he probably wouldn't need to be placed on the disabled list.

"It's always hard when you see one of your regulars go down like that," Roenicke said. "It bugged me all game. It's just one of those things you hope you can prevent."

Braun uses the same routine to stretch during each game, and goes to the top step of the dugout to stay away from teammates.

"I do my warmups every game," he said. "I'm surprised stuff like that doesn't happen more often. Guys are stretching and there's limited space."

Segura was second in the Brewers' batting order and Braun was third.

"I'm always in the same spot and always doing the same thing," he said. "The inning was about to start. Typically he's in the on-deck circle."

Segura played shortstop in the top of the first, but Jeff Bianchi pinch-hit for him as the second batter in the bottom of the inning.

"It was unexpected," said Bianchi, who had two hits and two RBIs. "You never expect to go in in the first inning for somebody, but that's my role -- to be ready. Today I was able to capitalize on four at-bats and we got a big win."

Segura was batting .239 with one home run and five RBIs in 22 games entering Saturday.

"Guys were saying, 'Jeff, Jeff, get ready,'" Bianchi said. "That's hard to see when you see a guy go down like that, especially when you don't know what happened. I kind of had to collect myself and get back in the on-deck circle, knowing I was up next."