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Arts and Entertainment

Dodger Joc Pederson's Monster Home Run Ball Reportedly Hit A Woman In A Wheelchair In The Face

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It has not been a very good week for Dodgers when it comes to hitting fans in the face with their balls.

On Monday, Yasiel Puig tossed a ball to a fan in the stands at Yankee Stadium, a typical, friendly gesture often transacted between player and fan, only to nail her in the face, knocking her tooth out. Puig met with the fan for Wednesday's game, where he offered her a non-threatening souvenir as a peace offering of sorts, and of course hashtagged it.

Saturday night's game in Arizona however was much more sinister. Joc Pederson hit a 463-foot bomb to deep center field—the longest Dodger home run of the season. And apparently it, uh, hit a woman who was sitting back there in a wheelchair, according to Derek Montilla, an Arizona sports podcast host and commentator:

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He also tweeted that, "There was a lot of blood."

According to the MLB Statcast, the ball was traveling 109.9 MPH as it exited contact with the bat which sounds very fast!

The Arizona Diamondbacks could not be reached for comment to confirm what happened, but if you pause the video at the moment of alleged impact, it does in fact look like someone in a seated position gets hit in the face, as we can see from the reaching of the hands to the unprotected face:

The irony is that, in the game previous Pederson sported a helmet featuring a faceguard, not because he feared facial injury but "because it looked cool."

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