Marwin exits after being struck by throw to pitcher

MILWAUKEE -- The first and only pitch that Marwin Gonzalez saw in the Yankees' 4-1 loss to the Brewers on Saturday was a third-inning Brandon Woodruff curveball snapping over home plate for a called strike. The Yankees' infielder kicked at the dirt, looked down at his cleats, and then -- pow.

Gonzalez said that he “blacked out for a second”, a flash of pain flooding the left side of his face. His legs quivering, it took Gonzalez few moments to realize what had happened; catcher Victor Caratini’s throw somehow hit Gonzalez, sending his batting helmet flying and doubling the batter over in agony.

“At the moment that happened, when he was trying to throw the ball back, he was trying to talk to me,” Gonzalez said. “I think that’s how it happened; he was distracted.”

Gonzalez exited the game, replaced by pinch-hitter Aaron Hicks, who finished the at-bat by striking out.

Though athletic trainer Alfonso Malaguti initially expressed concern over Gonzalez’s symptoms, Yankees manager Aaron Boone said that he does not believe Gonzalez will need to go into concussion protocol.

“He’s doing all right,” Boone said. “He took a pretty good shot -- better than I thought. He had a pretty good mark on his face when I went up there and checked on him. The trainers just felt like he needed to get out of there at that point. He wanted to stay in. I don’t think it’s anything that’s going to put him down.”

It has been a rough 24 hours for Gonzalez, who was also forced to leave Friday’s game due to spells of dizziness. At one point, Gonzalez tapped Caratini on the shoulder; Gonzalez said that the catcher had apologized repeatedly for the mishap.

"I think you saw from Vic's reaction that he feels terrible about it,” said Brewers manager Craig Counsell. “It's an accident. It's unfortunate. I hope he's all right."

Said Gonzalez: “I knew it wasn’t on purpose. It was OK. He tried to talk to me the whole time. I didn’t talk back to him, because I didn’t know what was going on, but he asked me several times, ‘How are you feeling? How are you feeling?’ I wasn’t able to answer him back.”

Woodruff said that he was “kind of stunned” by the incident.

“I heard [the ball hit] a bunch of helmet, so I thought, 'OK, it got helmet. Hopefully, he's fine,'” Woodruff said. “But I guess he squared him up pretty good. [Caratini] didn't say much, but you could tell he was upset about it because it was unintentional and he hit a guy and he's out of the ballgame. You never want to have it happen like that.”