BALTIMORE — Derek Fisher was able to have a laugh at his own expense on Sunday morning.
The Blue Jays outfielder was sporting a black right eye and swollen cheek after taking a fly ball off his face against the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday night, and knew the injury could have been much worse.
“Anything is possible in this game and that got reassured for me yesterday,” Fisher said with a chuckle. “You can’t count anything out. I got super lucky. It’s one of those deals that now you know you’re OK, now it’s fun and games.”
Making his second start for the Jays after being acquired from the Houston Astros on Wednesday, Fisher misplayed a fly ball hit by the Orioles’ Trey Mancini with one out in the bottom of the first inning.
“I was being aggressive and I was coming in on the ball and I wanted to be able to be the one to call it and if Teo (centrefielder Teoscar Hernandez) was going to call me off, he was going to call me off,” Fisher said. “I came in, peeked, looked up and I think I just blinded myself, caught the ball on my face.
“I thought I was going to catch it and the next thing I know I saw the ball coming right for my eye socket.”
That wasn’t enough for Fisher, however. Hours later, two of the men sent to the Astros in the trade, pitchers Aaron Sanchez and Joe Biagini, helped Houston throw a no-hitter against the Seattle Mariners.
Fisher was able to take the lighter side.
“Crazy how it works,” Fisher said. “Those guys go over there, they win a big game, give up no hits, and, uh, I catch a ball with my right eye.”
Fisher won’t soon forget his first series with the Jays, considering what happened on Saturday and the fact that his debut for Toronto came in bizarre fashion on Thursday night.
After Randal Grichuk fouled a ball off his own mouth in the ninth inning against the Orioles, Fisher came to the plate to finish the at-bat, eventually going down in a strikeout that was charged to Grichuk.
“Anything is possible,” Fisher said. “Grich and I were talking about it yesterday, just how crazy the game is, how some things happen and sure enough, about an hour and a half after our conversation in batting practice, it happened to me.”
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