Angel Keough Critical After Foul Hits Him : Baseball: Pitcher undergoes emergency surgery after being struck in the head while sitting in the dugout during exhibition.

Angel pitcher Matt Keough was in critical condition at Scottsdale Memorial Hospital Monday night following emergency surgery, performed after he was hit in the head by a foul ball while sitting in the third base dugout at Scottsdale Stadium.

Keough’s father, Marty, said his son was in the intensive care unit, breathing with the aid of a machine.

Although he was conscious and able to respond to questions immediately after the blow, a CAT scan performed at the hospital--which is across the street from the stadium--showed a right side blood clot. Keough began to lose consciousness from the pressure on his brain, and a craniotomy was performed by Dr. Gordon Deen.

In that procedure, a window is cut into the skull and a piece removed to relieve the pressure. The piece is later replaced.

“The doctors have given the Angels no reason to believe that the injury is life-threatening,” team spokesman Tim Mead said.

Marty Keough, a former major league player who was scouting the game for the St. Louis Cardinals, said the 24 to 48 hours after the incident would be critical. “It’s bad, but it could have been worse,” the elder Keough said. “The doctors told us if we hadn’t been so close, we’d have lost him from the bleeding.”

Matt’s wife, Jeana, who is due to deliver the couple’s third child in May, joined him at the hospital. His uncle, Joe, also a former major leaguer, and his mother, Sharon, were at his side.

Keough, 36, missed all of last season after undergoing rotator cuff surgery for the second time in his career. The Coto de Caza resident was invited to spring training as a nonroster player and was making a strong bid for a berth in the starting rotation, having allowed one run in five spring innings. A veteran of more than seven major league seasons, Keough pitched for the Hanshin Tigers in Japan from 1987-90. He signed with the Angels as a free agent last spring.

Keough was waiting during the first inning to pitch later in Monday’s game when Giant infielder John Patterson lined a pitch into the third base dugout, which is located closer to home plate than at most stadiums and is not protected by a screen. Accounts given by Angel players differed on whether the ball bounced before hitting Keough with enough force to topple him onto his side.

“He went right over. It hit him flush, right there,” Don Robinson, the Angels’ starting pitcher Monday, said as he pointed to a spot above his right eye and toward the ear. “He didn’t have time to get out of the way.”

Angel Manager Buck Rodgers, who was seated near Keough, said he heard a “squash” as the ball struck. “It’s real scary,” Rodgers said. “The trainers got him down and kept him still. I didn’t see any blood.”

The game was delayed for 20 minutes while medical personnel attended to Keough, strapping him onto a stretcher and lifting it into an ambulance for the brief ride to the hospital. Marty Keough, who had been sitting in the press box, initially was not worried when he was summoned to the Angels’ dugout.

“When I first went down there, Matt was talking to me, even gave me the gold chain from around his neck,” Marty Keough said. “In fact, he was gritting his teeth, and I could tell that he was mad that he wasn’t going to be able to pitch.

“It wasn’t until about 15 minutes later, when they did the scan, that he started to go out (of consciousness) from the swelling.”

Keough is scheduled to undergo another CAT scan today.

Times staff writer Ross Newhan contributed to this story.