Torii Hunter has said he will no longer play in night games at the Twins Fort Myers spring training complex. I'd say he has a pretty good reason too.
As if we didn't have enough animosity between former teammates lately, Hunter was batting against former Twins pitcher Kyle Lohse last night in a game against Cincinnati. Hunter turned to Reds catcher Javy Valentin and mentioned how dark it was, and how poor visibility was in the stadium.
On the very next pitch, Kyle Lohse drilled Hunter in the head.
Though Lohse had some problems with Twins manager Ron Gardenhire last season, the pitch was not intentional as he and Hunter had just spent a night playing poker together.
"It's a sickening feeling," Lohse said. "I've never hit anybody in the head before. That's not something I want to do again."
Hunter was on the ground for a minute, but after a minute or two he was fine. He even joked with Gardenhire while on the ground. After his manager asked him to open his eyes, Hunter responded with "No, I'm in heaven."
"You just can't see here at night," Hunter said. "It's always been that way. Trust me, that was my last night game in Fort Myers...I'll be fine. I might even be in there on Sunday."
He'll just be sleeping with a nightlight tonight, that's all.




