SAN FRANCISCO – While neither Bryce Harper nor Hunter Strickland were injured in their skirmish Monday, there was a casualty on a field in Giants’ first-baseman Michael Morse.
After Strickland and Harper began exchanging blows, Morse rushed over from first-base, presumably to break up the fight, and accidentally collided with teammate Jeff Samardzija at a full-sprint. Samardzija is listed at 6″5 and 225 pounds and the force of his body crashing into Morse’s head caused a significant impact.
While Morse initially did not feel any concussion-like symptoms Monday, Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy said Tuesday that Morse failed a concussion test and was placed on the 7-day concussion disabled list. The Giants recalled infielder/outfielder Kelby Tomlinson from Triple-A to fill Morse’s spot on the roster. Samardzija on the other hand, showed no signs of injury or concussion-like symptoms and made his start Tuesday without any hinderance.
Morse was a former teammate of Harper’s in Washington, and Harper thanked Morse for preventing Samardzija from possibly throwing a punch at Harper.
Loosing Morse does the Giants no favors, as their bench was already thin before the big first-baseman/outfielder went down. It is unclear how long Morse could be out with his concussion.
