Scheppers assaulted Thursday night in Cleveland
Reliever sustained contusion and bruise on left eye
CLEVELAND -- Rangers pitcher Tanner Scheppers sustained a contusion and bruise on his left eye when he was "sucker-punched" by a group of young men on a downtown Cleveland street Thursday night.
Scheppers was a few blocks from the team hotel going to get something to eat when he ran into the group. Scheppers said he was punched in the eye and went hard to the ground. The assailants then scattered and did not rob him.
"It's one of those things ... I was in the wrong place at the wrong time," Scheppers said. "It happened so quickly. The police were called. They said unfortunately this happened quite a bit."
The police were called, but a report was not filed. Scheppers was checked out medically and was cleared of any symptoms of a concussion. He did experience a headache on Friday and was unavailable to pitch in the Rangers' 11-8 loss to the Indians.
"It was a mixture of a headache and being a little shook up," Scheppers said."I went down pretty hard. I didn't take it too well. They wanted to give me 24 hours."