In his return from the disabled list, St. Louis Cardinals righty Carlos Martinez probably would have preferred to ease himself back into big-league action.
Instead, five batters into Tuesday's relief appearance (his first since July 19, 2015), Martinez took a 110-mph rocket to the ribs off the bat of Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Joc Pederson:
(Video courtesy: MLB.com)
After crumpling to the grass, Martinez eventually walked off the field without assistance. X-ray results came back negative, but it was still a scary scene for Cardinals fans, who find the team sitting just 2 1/2 games behind the Chicago Cubs in the NL Central race.
"I couldn't breathe, and everything started to go black," Martinez said, according to MLB.com's Jenifer Langosch. "I took a couple of breaths, and after that, like a minute (later), it was better."
Martinez now owns a 3.36 ERA across 18 starts and one painful outing out of the bullpen.