Smith takes 106.6 mph comebacker off his face — and stays in to K next batter

SEATTLE — Cade Smith took a 106.6 mph comebacker to the face, and didn’t even go down. At least, that’s what it looked like at first, when the right-handed reliever threw an 0-1 splitter to Seattle first baseman Rowdy Tellez and found it coming right back at him, a whole lot faster.

The laser caromed off Smith to the right side of the infield, where it got past Daniel Schneemann to allow Tellez to reach second base. But as soon as the play ended, all focus went to the mound, as manager Stephen Vogt and the Cleveland training staff rushed out to check on Smith, who already had a mark developing above his left eye.

Amazingly, Smith was able to successfully plead his case to stay in the game. And after the game ended — with the Guardians losing 7-2 in the first game of a three-game set against the Mariners — he was no worse for wear.

“They’re taking good care of me, but I feel good,” Smith said. “I count myself very lucky.”

The replay showed what exactly had happened — and just how lucky he was. Tellez’s liner would have caught the 26-year-old full in the face, but his cap bill got in the way.

The ball crumpled the bill and tore his hat off his head, so violently that it — combined with the impact of the brim pushing into his face — caused the scrape over his eyebrow.

Smith said his first reaction to the encounter was to pick up his hat and Pitchcom device. When he did, he realized just what had happened.

“I think when I picked up my hat and saw how folded the brim was, that was a pretty good indication that it did take the brunt of the impact,” he said.

Smith stayed in and went right back to work against Dominic Canzone, blowing 96.2 mph past the Seattle right fielder to end the frame with authority. Friday became Smith’s fifth consecutive scoreless outing. The second-year reliever has posted a 1.42 ERA since May 7, allowing just two runs in 13 appearances.

“I tell you what, that kid, nothing shakes him,” manager Stephen Vogt said. “He was completely calm. Went to check on him, [he] didn’t get shaken. A couple warmup pitches to slow down, punches the next guy out.”

Then Smith walked off, cool as you please, showing nothing to suggest he’d just looked a missile nearly to the eye.

It’s not the first time Smith’s had something like this happen. He told reporters that in youth baseball, he had a similar instance playing first base, when he lost a ball in the sun, only for the brim of his cap to keep it from hitting him in the face.

“I know that probably as long as I’ve been playing baseball, before each game, my parents have prayed for a hedge of protection, and that God would keep the ball away from my head and my heart,” he said. “I know that that has not stopped, and I know I was very fortunate, a matter of inches.”

For Smith, born and raised in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Friday was tantamount to a home game, and his family was in the crowd at T-Mobile Park. As soon as he left the field after striking out Canzone, the training staff took him down the tunnel to run him through basic concussion tests; after that, he was able to send word to his parents and let them know he was all right.

“I needed to make sure they knew that I was OK and that they didn’t have to freak out and stress out in the stands, because I knew that was what they were doing,” Smith said.

The rest of the Cleveland bullpen wouldn’t fare quite so well. Tim Herrin worked around a two-out double to work a clean sixth, but ran into trouble in the seventh, allowing a walk and a double to put two in scoring position with no outs. Vogt went to Hunter Gaddis for the pressure spot, but he allowed a go-ahead single through the drawn-in infield, then a two-run knock a batter later before he exited.

Kolby Allard gave up two more hits — including an RBI double — before finally getting Cleveland out of the seventh inning. It was the Cleveland bullpen’s worst frame since a six-run inning against the Phillies on May 10.

Cleveland’s four relievers combined to allow 10 hits — matching the bullpen’s season-worst — in four innings.

“We have to make better pitches,” Vogt said. “They ended up stringing some hits together and put the game away.”