In the bottom of the ninth inning facing Rockies reliever Jake McGee, Padres catcher Hector Sanchez swung and missed but lost control of his bat. The bat whipped around into the crowd above the visitors’ dugout, striking a woman in the head. Play was stopped for several minutes while she was tended to by medical personnel. She was wheeled out of Petco Park to receive further treatment.
Many stadiums have recently increased the length of protective netting to the far ends of both dugouts. As Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune told me, the netting at Petco Park extends from the backstop to the entrances of both dugouts. Sanchez’s bat went over top of the dugout into the crowd. Had there been netting extending to the far end of the dugout, the injury likely would’ve been avoided.
Sanders also reported, strangely, that someone was arrested from the same spot where the fan was struck by the bat. The fan left in cuffs with cuts on his head.
Update: Here’s why the fan was arrested:
Another fan at Petco was arrested, ejected after refusing to move so bio cleanup could be done after fan hit by bat. pic.twitter.com/umuLNQ0RpY
— Kirk D Kenney (@sdutkirKDKenney) May 4, 2017