Bizarre Freak Injury Leads To Astros Pitching Change

It's not that he was partying too hard... It's just that he didn't expect a champagne bottle to attack him during the Houston Astros' celebration of their ALDS victory over the Seattle Mariners last weekend. Lance McCullers took a bubbly bottle right on the elbow bone... and it wasn't funny. 

McCullers on his mishap: “So, unfortunately, after the victory in Seattle, I caught a spare champagne bottle to the elbow bone. I'm okay. It was just a little bit of swelling, not a huge deal. I threw a bullpen today. It was 35 pitches. It was a great bullpen.”

— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) October 21, 2022

The presumed ALCS Game 3 starter for the Astros has been pushed back to Game 4 after the bizarre incident. “So, unfortunately, after the victory in Seattle, I caught a spare champagne bottle to the elbow bone," McCullers explained. "I'm okay. It was just a little bit of swelling, not a huge deal. I threw a bullpen today. It was 35 pitches. It was a great bullpen.”

Lance McCullers Jr “caught a champagne bottle to the elbow” during the ALDS clubhouse celebration after beating the Mariners. “I’m fine..it was no one’s fault, it was an accident” pic.twitter.com/7D7DQKkzof

— SportsTalk 790 (@SportsTalk790) October 21, 2022

"Some guys were kind of coming back behind me, and the bottle just happened to kind of hit the back inside part of my elbow as the people were passing by. It wasn't like we were getting wild... It was really no one's fault, it was just an accident."

No worries for manager Dusty Baker, he merely gets to replace McCullers for Game 3 with Christian Javier and his 2.54 season ERA, 0.95 WHIP and 194 strikeouts. 

Photo: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports