St. Louis Cardinals Outfielder Lars Nootbaar Fouls Ball Off Groin, Leaves Game

Lars Nootbaar's foul ball in the fifth innings took a nasty bounce, hitting him below the belt and knocking him out of Wednesday night's game.

St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Lars Nootbaar left Wednesday night's game against the Oakland Athletics after an unfortunate turn of events at the plate.

Nootbaar stepped up in the fifth inning to face right-hander Paul Blackburn. On the second pitch of the at-bat, Nootbaar fouled an 87 mile-per-hour changeup towards his feet, only for it to bounce back up and hit him just below the belt.

The 25-year-old outfielder stayed on the ground writhing in pain for over a minute, eventually receiving attention from the team training staff. After a few moments, Nootbaar got back into the batter's box, took a ball, then struck out swinging.

Nootbaar would check out of the game the following inning, ending his night 1-for-3. The team diagnosed him with a lower abdomen contusion.

The video of Nootbaar's unlucky foul ball went viral, but he assuredly would have traded the headlines for a healthy finish to the game.

Ouch 😬 pic.twitter.com/TVmsPt6zg4

— A's on NBCS (@NBCSAthletics) August 17, 2023

Through 90 games this season, Nootbaar is batting .283 with 12 home runs, 39 RBI, eight stolen bases, a .835 OPS and a team-high 3.2 WAR.

The Cardinals were already down 6-0 at the time of Nootbaar's injury, and the scoreboard never got any prettier for St. Louis. The Athletics went on to win 9-0, knocking the Cardinals to 54-67 on the season and keeping them on pace for their worst full season since 1990.

Utility man Tommy Edman also left the game with a right calf contusion in the seventh inning.

Oakland's victory, on the other hand, helped the team avoid getting swept in a second-consecutive series. The Athletics still boast the worst record in baseball at 34-87.

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