Boston Red Sox ace Chris Sale was drilled by a line drive in Saturday's Spring Training contest against the Houston Astros, the Boston Red Sox official Twitter announced on Saturday afternoon (March 24). The video below shows the hit. Sale was clearly in pain as he hit the ground quickly and then proceeded to limp around the mound trying to walk off the pain. The good news for Red Sox fans is that Sale was quick to get back to his feet after he was hit in the hip and walked off the field on his own strength.

The ball was hit so hard that after it bounced off of Sale, it rolled all the way into foul territory on the first base side.

There has been no official release about the extent of Sale's injury is, but with Opening Day just five days away, Sale's status for that game is still up in the air. Sale was announced as the Red Sox' Opening Day starter less than one week ago.

Sale's Impact

Last year's American League (AL) Cy Young Award runner-up had an enormous impact on the field for the Red Sox. Last year was one of the best years of the 28-year-old's career, as he posted a 17-8 record with a 2.90 ERA in 214 1/3 innings pitched.

Sale struck out a career-high 308 batters last season, which was also the most strikeouts recorded by any pitcher in the league.

The second most was Max Scherzer of the Washington Nationals with 268 strikeouts. According to SI.com, Sale's 308 strikeouts was the first time since 1999 that an AL pitcher struck out more than 300 batters in a season. The last AL pitcher to hit 300+ strikeouts was Pedro Martinez of the Boston Red Sox.

Fan Reaction

Having your favorite team's ace limp off the field is never a good sign for any fan.

Red Sox fans took to Twitter to grieve and react to the injury.

"Hope Chris Sale [is] fine and ready for opening game," one fan said on the social media site.

"I have no comment on Chris Sale because I'm dead both internally and externally," said another fan.

When all is said and done, there is nothing Red Sox and baseball fans can do except to wait for word from the team about Sale's status. Currently, he is still listed as the team's Opening Day starter but that could change as the extent of his injury becomes available.

Other notable Spring Training Injuries

Chris Sale is not the only ace to be injured in Spring Training. Madison Bumgarner of the San Francisco Giants broke his left hand after he was hit by a line drive in the Giants' game on Friday. According to ESPN.com, Bumgarner will be out for 6-8 weeks due to the injury, meaning he will miss the beginning of the 2018 season.

Along with those star pitchers going down with injuries, Los Angeles Dodgers star third baseman Justin Turner was also injured in a Spring Training game and will be missing the beginning of the season. All three injuries happened within the last week. Star players suffering injuries during Spring Training, especially this late into Spring Training, really throws a wrench into teams' season plans. The Dodgers need to find a replacement for Turner, the Giants need to fill a rotation spot with Bumgarner out, and now the Red Sox could be missing their Opening Day starter come March 29.
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