Globe iconLogin iconRecap iconSearch iconTickets icon

Tigers' Kelly OK after crash into outfield wall

SAN DIEGO -- Don Kelly woke up Saturday morning no longer experiencing a headache from his Friday night crash into the right-field fence at Petco Park. The rest of his body didn't fare so well.

"All over sore," he said. "Shoulder, knee, the whole right side."

Kelly was still available off the bench for Saturday night's game against the Padres, but Torii Hunter's return to right field rendered moot any question of his being able to start.

"He's a tough nut," manager Brad Ausmus said.

It was Kelly's second crash into a right-field fence in four days, and the third by a Tigers right fielder. The previous two had come at Dodger Stadium, where the barriers are shorter but the outfield territory is a little cozier.

At Petco Park, the right-field fence is larger and includes a video board. Kelly ran into a wire mesh screen in front of the board that some compared to a chain-link fence. He crashed into it first with his head, then with his right side, as he ran after Jedd Gyorko's first-inning drive to the warning track.

Kelly stayed in the game and passed an early concussion test, though he acknowledged he had a headache.

"That was the thing that hurt the most at the beginning," Kelly said. "But as the game went on, it started getting a little tighter."

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. Read Beck's Blog and follow him on Twitter @beckjason.
Read More: Detroit Tigers, Don Kelly