Brett Lawrie sends flowers to fan injured by his broken bat

Oakland Athletics third baseman Brett Lawrie has sent flowers to the woman who was severely injured when a piece of his broken bat hit her in the head during a game at Fenway Park last week.

Tonya Carpenter suffered what was initially described as life-threatening injuries, but her family released a statement Monday saying doctors at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital have upgraded her condition from serious to fair.

Following the Athletics’ 2-1 loss to the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night, Lawrie said he didn’t want to talk too much about giving Carpenter flowers, but said he was “glad that she’s doing well and I’m glad that she got my flowers.”

Carpenter’s family thanked Lawrie for the flowers in a statement:

“Brett, they are the only ones by her side. On behalf of her family, we thank you for this lovely arrangement. You brought a smile to her face, the fragrance fills the room and she thinks of her garden.

“We accept these flowers and appreciate thoughts and prayers, we ask all fans across this country that you continue to pray for a full recovery.”

Carpenter, 44, suffered a significant amount of blood loss when she was hit in the head with Lawrie’s broken bat during the second inning of Friday’s game between the Boston Red Sox and Athletics.

The game was delayed as medical workers treated Carpenter and wheeled her out of the stadium on a stretcher. David Estrada, a spokesman for the Boston Police Department, described Carpenter’s injuries at the time as life-threatening.

Carpenter was attending the game with her 8-year-old son and a friend.

The Red Sox, in a statement released Saturday, said, “All of us offer our prayers and our thoughts as we wish her a speedy recovery.”

Speaking before the start of the Major League Baseball amateur draft on Monday, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said the incident has prompted the league to take a closer look at fan safety.

“When you have an issue like this, an incident like this, you have to go back and reevaluate where you are on all of your safety issues and trust me, we will do that. Just like we are on a variety of issues right now at the beginning of my tenure,” Manfred said.