The Chicago Cubs bounced back from their series loss this past weekend to even up their West Coast road trip with a 5-4 win over the San Diego Padres on Wednesday. Jameson Taillon pitched seven strong innings, Ben Brown saved the day in the eighth, Pete Crow-Armstrong homered again, oh, and Nico Hoerner took a fastball off his head and laughed it off as he ran to first base.
Hoerner was facing Matt Waldron in the fifth inning when the Padres’ right-hander unleashed a 90mph fastball that drilled the Cubs’ middle infielder directly on the head. Luckily, Hoerner was able to tuck his head in just enough that the ball clanked off his helmet. Still, it’s always a scary scene whenever a hitter gets beaned, so the Cubs went out to check on Hoerner.
The replay is hilarious, though, as you can see Hoerner laughing almost instantly and joking with his teammates, who were looking on from the dugout.
It’s not like pitchers were intentionally trying to hit the Cubs in San Diego, but Hoerner was the third player drilled by the Padres in the past two games after Ian Happ and Michael Busch were hit in Tuesday’s game.
🔥 Subscribe to the Untold Chicago YouTube channel to hear Chicago legends tell stories you’ve never seen in headlines — real moments, real experiences, straight from the athletes themselves.
Later in Wednesday’s series finale, Matt Shaw was nearly hit twice by Jason Adam. Then, Shaw homered to give the Cubs a much-needed insurance run that turned out to be the difference in the 5-4 win.
As for Hoerner, he finished the game and there were no concerns following the game regarding his status.
He was literally shaking off the hit to his head with a shimmy.
Incredible. What a psycho in the toughest way possible. The Cubs wrapped up the month of April with a 17-9 record, and head into May at 19-12 overall following a day off on Thursday.
Hoerner was 1-for-4 on Wednesday and is currently leading the Cubs in RBI with 26 and stolen bases with 7. Among Cubs’ qualified hitters, his 133 wRC+ is tops on the team. Through 31 games, Hoerner has put up a 1.7 fWAR, which is currently tied with Matt Olson for No. 1 in the National League.
