'That's terrifying': Reds grateful Marlins' Daniel Castano is OK after line drive to head

The sound is the jarring part for players, instantly turning a game into something that suddenly feels a little more meaningless.

Miami Marlins pitcher Daniel Castano was hit by a line drive in the head in the first inning Thursday. The ball left Donovan Solano’s bat at 104 mph and deflected in the air all the way to third baseman Joey Wendle for the inning’s second out.

“It's very scary for everyone involved,” Reds Manager David Bell said. “You almost want to stop playing the game.”

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Some players put their hands on their heads. Solano crouched along the first-base line. Tommy Pham, the runner at second base, looked away toward the outfield. Trainers immediately rushed onto the field as Castano dropped to his knees while holding his forehead.

Castano, fortunately, appeared to avoid serious injury. The Marlins announced Castano had a forehead contusion with a mild concussion. He spoke to reporters afterward with a bandage on his forehead, and he was in good spirits. He even apologized for hitting Joey Votto with an errant pitch.

“It just kind of went black for a second, to be honest with you,” Castano told Bally Sports Florida. “I came to and everyone was around me. I think the first thing I asked was ‘did we get the out?’ Just making sure everything was all right. I still wanted to compete and be in that game. Not sure, really, what happened.”

Castano realized the severity when he saw a little blood on his hand, but he walked off the field under his own power as trainers waved off a cart parked in the right-field bullpen. When Castano stood up, Solano walked to the mound and put his arm around the pitcher as they shared a brief conversation.

“What a class act to come out to the mound,” said Castano, who tapped Solano before he walked off the field. “In the moment, I didn’t really realize what was going on to be completely honest. I saw him and gave him some taps. It happens.”

It’s the worst fear for any pitcher. Castano said he immediately asked for his phone when he was in the medical room to call his wife, Brooke. Once he confirmed he was OK, she joked, “why didn’t you get your glove up?”

The line drive first connected with the brim of Castano’s hat, which likely helped lessen a bit of the impact.

“That’s terrifying,” Reds pitcher Graham Ashcraft said. “You never want to see a player get hurt like that. I was waiting to see blood start coming out because I didn’t know it hit him in top of the head. I thought it caught his cheek or eye bone or something. I’m hoping he’s OK. My prayers go out to him and his family.”

Bell, who called Marlins Manager Don Mattingly after the game to check on Castano, approached Solano in the dugout and asked him if he was OK – “which, of course, he’s not,” Bell said.

“I just said, “Hey, if you if you need to come out of this game, we'll get you out of there,’” Bell said. “I think the fact he saw him walk off helped a lot, so he was able to stay in the game. That would have been completely understandable and acceptable if he couldn't keep playing.”

Solano remained in the game, a 7-6 loss, and delivered an RBI single in his third at-bat. But it's a moment that players never forget.

Pham was in the batter’s box on Sept. 17, 2015 when he hit a line drive that hit former Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Jimmy Nelson in the head. The ball ricocheted halfway down the left-field line in foul territory.

Pham, who ended up with a double, remembers he didn’t know what to do. He froze until he heard his first-base coach yelling at him to run.

“I just stopped,” Pham said. “It hit him, and I was like, ‘oh my god.’ He just dropped to the ground immediately and I was just standing there. They were like, ‘Run!’ and I just started running. It’s scary, man. At the end of the day, you don’t want to hurt nobody.”

The line drive ended Nelson’s season after a CT scan showed a dime-sized bruise. He asked Pham to autograph the ball.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Reds react after Marlins pitcher Daniel Castano hit by line drive