Happ back after eye injury, goes deep on first at bat
Ian Happ's description of the eye injury suffered on Thursday in Pittsburgh was not pleasant.
"While the ball was spinning, my eyes were open so I kind of watched the lace contact the eyeball. I felt that," he said before Saturday's doubleheader against St. Louis. "Definitely scary in the moment, definitely scary when I got up to a knee and was trying to get my bearings and figure out if I could see and just trying to blink it out."
Against the Pirates, Happ fouled off a low pitch, the ball bounced up and struck Happ's right eye, knocking his helmet off in the process. He took a couple of steps, fell to his knees and eventually left the game.
He was not only back in the lineup for Saturday's Game 1, Happ sent the second pitch he saw from Adam Wainwright over the wall in right field for his 11th home run of the season.
When chatting with reporters on a Zoom call, the only visible remnant of the injury was some bruising in the corner of his right eye. He did not have a full-blown black eye. Happ wore sunglasses in the field at the start of Game 1, but did not wear them to the plate.
"After seeing the doc yesterday, going through everything, getting the eyes dilated and hearing his opinion on everything, I felt really comfortable and lucky about the actual scratch or abrasion that was on the cornea," Happ said.
"When I woke up this morning, went through kind of my normal vision training stuff I do, was able to see clearly and a lot more clearly then I was yesterday or last night. So I felt comfortable talking to Rossy (manager David Ross) and being confident that I could be in the lineup today."
Happ, who does not wear contact lenses, has been the Cubs' best position player this season. He leads the team in most offensive categories, including average (.311), home runs (11), RBI (22), doubles (9), on-base percentage (.421) and slugging (.648).
Heading into Saturday's action, Happ ranked second in the National League in OPS (on-base plus slugging) behind Washington's Juan Soto.
Happ said he had trouble sleeping Thursday night, due to a constant feeling of something being stuck in the eye.
"Vision is so important for us as hitters, especially the way that I think about my game," he said. "So anything that affects that is definitely scary and nerve-wracking. But I felt after seeing the docs, I felt pretty comfortable that it would just be a matter of time."