Baseball notes: Mariners’ Mitch Haniger leaves game after getting hit in face by 95 mph pitch

Seattle Mariners outfielder Mitch Haniger was hit in the face by a 95 mph pitch from New York Mets starter Jacob deGrom on Saturday at Safeco Field but appeared to avoid a major injury.

DeGrom’s fastball tailed quickly at the end and Haniger was unable to turn away in time. He crumpled to the ground and received attention from the training staff for several minutes before leaving the field under his own power.

The Mariners indicated after the game that Haniger appeared to have a bruised mouth and was alert following the team’s 3-2 victory.

The team said Haniger, who earlier this season missed six weeks because of a strained oblique muscle, would be taken to a Seattle hospital for further examination.

Haniger, a 26-year-old from in his second season in the majors, is batting .255 with seven home runs, 24 RBIs, 26 walks and an on-base percentage of .355. He was a first-round draft choice in 2012 out of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

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Major League Baseball plans to start the 2019 and 2020 seasons in Asia and play regular-season games in England in June of both years. The new collective bargaining agreement calls for the season opener to be played in Asia in 2018 and 2020 and specifies Japan for 2019. However, plans have not progressed for a 2018 Asian opener and those games are now unlikely, according to a baseball official. A two-game series between Cleveland and Minnesota in San Juan, Puerto Rico, already has been announced for next April 17-18, and the agreement calls for an additional series in Puerto Rico or the Dominican Republic in May 2020. …

The Atlanta Braves have placed outfielder Matt Kemp on the 10-day disabled list with a strained right hamstring. Atlanta also recalled outfielder Lane Adams from triple-A Gwinnett before Saturday night’s game at Philadelphia. The 32-year-old Kemp was injured as he rounded first base after hitting a liner off the wall in the fourth inning. In 88 games, he is batting .290 with 14 homers and 48 RBIs. … Hall of Fame outfielder Lou Brock says he is free of cancer more than three months after the 78-year-old St. Louis Cardinals great announced he had been diagnosed with a type of blood cancer. ... The Arizona Diamondbacks put All-Star left-hander Robbie Ray on the seven-day concussion disabled list, a day after he was hit in the head by a line drive in a game against the St. Louis Cardinals.