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St. Louis Cardinals Outfielder Lars Nootbaar Fouls Ball Off Groin, Leaves Game

Lars Nootbaar's foul ball in the fifth innings took a nasty bounce, hitting him below the belt and knocking him out of Wednesday night's game.
Sam Connon|
St. Louis Cardinals Outfielder Lars Nootbaar Fouls Ball Off Groin, Leaves Game
St. Louis Cardinals Outfielder Lars Nootbaar Fouls Ball Off Groin, Leaves Game

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St. Louis CardinalsOakland Athletics

St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Lars Nootbaar left Wednesday night's game against the Oakland Athletics after an unfortunate turn of events at the plate.

Nootbaar stepped up in the fifth inning to face right-hander Paul Blackburn. On the second pitch of the at-bat, Nootbaar fouled an 87 mile-per-hour changeup towards his feet, only for it to bounce back up and hit him just below the belt.

The 25-year-old outfielder stayed on the ground writhing in pain for over a minute, eventually receiving attention from the team training staff. After a few moments, Nootbaar got back into the batter's box, took a ball, then struck out swinging.

Nootbaar would check out of the game the following inning, ending his night 1-for-3. The team diagnosed him with a lower abdomen contusion.

The video of Nootbaar's unlucky foul ball went viral, but he assuredly would have traded the headlines for a healthy finish to the game.

Through 90 games this season, Nootbaar is batting .283 with 12 home runs, 39 RBI, eight stolen bases, a .835 OPS and a team-high 3.2 WAR.

The Cardinals were already down 6-0 at the time of Nootbaar's injury, and the scoreboard never got any prettier for St. Louis. The Athletics went on to win 9-0, knocking the Cardinals to 54-67 on the season and keeping them on pace for their worst full season since 1990.

Utility man Tommy Edman also left the game with a right calf contusion in the seventh inning.

Oakland's victory, on the other hand, helped the team avoid getting swept in a second-consecutive series. The Athletics still boast the worst record in baseball at 34-87.

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Sam Connon
SAM CONNON

Sam Connon is a staff writer covering baseball for “Fastball on SI.’’ He previously covered UCLA Athletics for On SI’s All Bruins site, and is a UCLA graduate, with his work there as a sports columnist receiving awards from the College Media Association and Society of Professional Journalists. Connon also wrote for On SI’s New England Patriots site, Patriots Country, and he was on the Patriots and Boston Red Sox beats at Prime Time Sports Talk. Sam lives in Boston.

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