KANSAS CITY-- In the ninth inning with two out and one on in the Blue Jays' 4-3 win on Friday night, Josh Donaldson was hit in the earpiece on his helmet with a high pitch from Royals closer Kelvin Herrera. Donaldson popped up and made his way to first after getting checked on by a trainer.
"It was a changeup and I threw it kind of sidearm, and it just got away and broke inside," Herrera said.
The pitch was clocked by Statcast™ at 86 mph. Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said after the game that he didn't expect there to be any lingering effects for the next two games of the series.
"Oh yeah," Gibbons said, asked if it was a scary moment. "But [Donaldson is] going to be fine."
Donaldson did not appear pleased as he made his way to first, but stayed in the game, eventually moving to second after Edwin Encarnacion singled to load the bases.
Donaldson underwent treatment after the game and was back in the lineup the next day. He said on Saturday that he didn't think the HBP was on purpose, adding that he had actually been hit in the head before.
"We had a guy come in [for concussion protocol], everything was fine," Donaldson said. "It could be a lot worse. I'm thankful that it's not."
The teams were involved in a scuffle in August 2015, but there were no incidents on Friday night. Royals catcher Salvador Perez immediately called for the trainer after the hit-by-pitch as everyone waited to see if Donaldson was OK.
"I think every team goes inside," Donaldson said. "It's just kind of one of those things. [The Royals] have a lot of guys that throw really hard, [so] people take notice when they hit guys. I don't think it's anything other than normal. It's part of the game."