Nicasio hit in head by line drive in Rockies loss

Colorado Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, speaking on behalf of his teammates after a 5-3 loss to the Washington Nationals, said it was hard to play after pitcher Juan Nicasio was hit on the right side of his head with a line drive in the second inning and carted off the field.

“We’re obviously very worried,” Tulowitzki said. “We were asking (about him) in the dugout, even during the game. We know he has some kind of a neck injury. We don’t know to the extent or anything. We kept asking questions as the game was going on. That’s all we really know. That’s all we’ve been told. Our thoughts and prayers are with him.”

Nicasio was struck by a line drive hit by Ian Desmond, leading off the second. Emergency medical personnel assisted by the Rockies training staff immobilized Nicasio. He was then taken on a cart down the left field line and out to an ambulance. During the game, the Rockies announced Nicasio was resting comfortable at a local hospital and undergoing a battery of tests. The club’s announcement made no mention of a neck injury, that information first coming from Tulowitzki. He said he was surprised situations like this don’t occur more often.

“You watch ESPN every night,” Tulowitzki said. “Sometime you see it happen. That’s the scariest one I’ve ever seen, let alone to be on the field. It’s hard to play a game after that.”

Tulowitzki said he had seen “nothing like this. Nothing this scary. Sometimes it grazes guys, but this seemed to hit him solid.”

As for the game, the Nationals scored two runs off Nicasio in the first, which began with singles by Rick Ankiel and Danny Espinosa followed by Ryan Zimmerman’s triple. He was stranded at third as Nicasio, who took the mound 4-0 with a 1.58 ERA in six starts at Coors Field, got Michael Morse to ground out, Jayson Werth to pop out and he struck out Laynce Nix.

The Nationals built a 4-0 lead, scoring single runs in the fourth and fifth off Edgmer Escalona, who saved the bullpen by pitching a career-high 4 1/3 innings. He gave up a two-out double to pitcher Jordan Zimmerman in the fourth followed by Ankiel’s single. Morse hit his 19th homer of the season with one out in the fifth.

The Rockies batted around and scored three runs in the sixth, which ended when Eric Young Jr., ahead 3-0 in the count, took a called third strike from Tyler Clippard.

“You got to give him credit to throw a 3-2 changeup in that situation,” subdued manager Jim Tracy said. “Obviously it takes a lot of courage to do that. If he misses, the game is tied and Dexter Fowler gets a whack at him in a tie game with the bases loaded.”

Chris Nelson led off the eighth with a walk. But he was picked off with Ian Stewart, the next batter, at the plate in what Tracy said a mistake on a hit-and-run with Nelson wanting to get a good jump.

The Nationals tacked on a run in the ninth against Huston Street, who has been scored upon in his past three games and four of his past five. After a one-out double by Espinosa, Street intentionally walked Ryan Zimmerman, setting up a possible double play. That occurred but only Morse’s run-scoring single. With runners on first and third, Werth then grounded into a double play.

Fowler doubled with one out in the ninth off closer Drew Storen, who worked 1 1/3 innings to earn his 28th save. But Todd Helton grounded out, and Tulowitzki lined to center to end a very difficult game for the Rockies to play.

“I laud the effort to be in the position that we were in and actually have a chance to win the game,” Tracy said. “An opportunity was there. Once that incident occurred, I didn’t know where that game was going to. Obviously however it turns out, our thoughts and prayers and concern are with the guy that was taken off the field. That’s where your thoughts are, but you have to finish the job.”

Asked about the scene on the mound after Nicasio was hit and how bad it was, Tracy said, “It was pretty bad. I’ve experienced it before, which is why I don’t want to talk about it too much. I’ve seen it happen once before in another place. It’s no fun.”