MILWAUKEE — Sal Frelick returned to the Milwaukee Brewers‘ lineup for the start of the playoffs without needing to worry about hitting any metal if he crashed into a wall again.
Frelick bruised his hip Friday when his left side made contact with the metal chain link inside a window in American Family Field’s right field sidewall that had no protective padding. As the Brewers started their NL Wild Card Series with the New York Mets on Tuesday, padding had been added to cover that window.
This isn’t the first time stadiums have altered their fences or walls after a player got hurt crashing into them. For instance, Aaron Rowand was playing for the Philadelphia Phillies in 2006 when he ran face-first into the Citizens Bank Park fence. At Rowand’s request, additional padding was ordered and eventually added to the fence.
Frelick made a swift recovery and was back in right field Tuesday for Game 1. He had been walking with a crutch over the weekend.
“Yesterday I wouldn’t say he looked 100%, but he was moving,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said before the game. “I was shocked at how good he was moving. They feel like he’ll be a step more today, and that’s the only reason he’s in there. If we see that he isn’t, then we’ll pull him out of there.”
Frelick’s injury occurred when he crashed into the sidewall attempting to catch a drive from Francisco Alvarez that traveled into foul territory during the third inning of the Brewers’ 8-4 victory over the Mets.
“We’ve all seen Sal run into walls and do whatever, and he pops right up,” Murphy said. “The fact that he didn’t get up and he couldn’t — he walked off the field himself, but once he got into the dugout, he had to be carried. I thought there’s no way he’d play. Fortunately, it was nothing structural, and he’s going to play through it.”
As Frelick crashed into the sidewall, his left side made contact with the metal chain link inside the window. Murphy said the window is there to allow the grounds crew to see what’s going on.
“Obviously I know there’s a wall there, and I’ve seen that window before just from shagging balls out there,” Frelick said Saturday. “But I never thought twice [about it].”
Now he apparently won’t have to worry about it at all.
