Aroldis Chapman Taken By Ambulance To Hospital - Hit By Line Drive

Aroldis Chapman is taken to a hospital after he is hit with batted ball.

Aroldis Chapman was hit above the left eye by a line drive hit by Salvador Perez in the sixth inning of a game between the Reds and Kansas City Royals.

Chapman suffered a laceration above his left eye but did not lose consciousness.  He was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital in Surprise, Arizona.

The extent of the injury is not known at this time.

Umpire Chris Guccione met with Royals' manager Ned Yost and Reds' manager Bryan Price. Both decided to call the game on the spot with the Royals leading 6-3.

"When Chapman got hit and the paramedics were on the field, Ned Yost and Bryan Price got together and along with the umpires, we agreed for everyone's safety. We decided to just be done with the game and focus on Chapman," Guccione said.

Chapman's father, who was expatriated from Cuba quietly last winter, rushed to his son's side.

Royals players did not want to talk about it after the game.  Players for both teams showed grave concern.  It would have been difficult to continue a spring training game with the image of Chapman being hit directly and writhing on the pitchers mound.

Chapman was down for several minutes and surrounded by teammates as paramedics converged on the field.  An ambulance with sirens blaring were heard rushing to the scene.

Reds' general manager Walt Jocketty rushed to the scene as well.

Chapman was loaded into the ambulance and taken to a yet undisclosed hospital accompanied by Reds' spanish speaking trainer Tomas Vera. Chapman was down for nearly 11 minutes from the time of the hit until he was loaded into the cart to take him to the ambulance.

Bryan Price spoke briefly with the media after gathering his composure as best he could.

"He's not good. He took a line drive just above his left eye. He had a contusion and laceration just above the left eye.  He never lost consciousness. He was able to communicate He could move his hands and feet, his legs."

The shock of the impact affected every player on the field.

"You can't imagine it. It is not as uncommon perhaps as we'd like it to be. It was frightening. It was certainly a frightening moment," Price said.

Players, coaches, umpires and fans stared on in disbelief and shock.  No one uttered a word in the stands for several minutes.  Fans from Cincinnati's group from Provident Travel on a spring training junket were concerned and the thought of continuing the game was the furthest from their mind.  They knew when the umpiring crew met the game would be called.  There was almost an unspoken unanimous consensus.

"You just can't find in you in your heart to go out there and play.  Baseball is a game that you have to play with a lot of joy in your heart," Price said.  "You need to play with heart, determination and focus and I don't think anyone was able to do that at that moment."

Rightfielder Jay Bruce heard the impact from his rightfield position.

"It's the most frightening thing I've ever been a part of," Bruce said, speaking for his teammates. "I didn't get close enough to see it but as hard as he throws and as hard as it came off the bat, I'm just hoping for the best."

The game was a secondary concern to the players.

"I believe the last thing on everyone's mind at that point was the game," Bruce said. "It's spring training so it doesn't hold a lot of weight anyway. There is not really words to explain what everyone's feeling right now.  It's terrible. It's dangerous. It may happen just every once in awhile but you never know.  It's completely inadvertent. None of that is happening on purpose.  It's just one of the dangers of the game. It was one of the most non-fun things I've ever been a part of."

Bruce kept his distance to allow the medical team to work aid Chapman as badly as he wanted to know of his teammate's condition.

"With the medical team all around, I let them get to him and do there job and get him to the hospital as quickly as they could. The fact that he was conscious and moving his limbs was definitely a positive sign. I'm no medical expert but I'm hopeful and wishing for the best."

"Baseball aside this is people's lives your talking about. It is so unfortunate. You hate to see it happen to anyone," Bruce said.