Brewers Gus Varland Okay After Getting Hit With Blistering Liner

Milwaukee Brewers reliever Gus Varland says he's okay after a scary moment in Saturday's game against the San Diego Padres.

The Brewers right-hander was facing Padre Manny Machado when the All-Star third baseman got a hold of the 2-1 pitch in the bottom of the eight-inning. The ball absolutely jumped off the barrel of Machado's bat and headed directly for Varland at over 105 mph,

Terrifying stuff. Fortunately, Varland got up and walked off the field under his own power.

While it looked like that was a straight shot to the chops, Varland said after the game — which the Padres won 10-3 — that his hand took the bulk of the impact. The 26-year-old was also more upset about the pitch location than the fact that said pitch was lined right back in his face.

"I'm more mad about that slider location," Varland said, per ESPN. "It felt good out of my hand, it just didn't get there. It came back at me, hit my hand and my chin and my left forearm. It just kind of rocked me a little bit. I felt fine though. I felt like I could have kept going but I think that's the adrenaline talking there."

He also had a sense of humor about the incident, saying it taught him a lesson.

"Don't hang your sliders middle-middle," he said. "Lesson learned."

According to Brewers manager Craig Counsell Varland's X-Rays came back negative.

Considering the way Machado got a hold of that pitch, that's nothing short of miraculous.

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