--- description: A young child was hit by a foul ball at a Cubs-Astros game on Wednesday, causing Albert Almora Jr. to break down crying. title: Batter Weeps After Hard Foul Ball Hits Child at Cubs-Astros Game image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc7846ece4bf231ff/69894a938fd2eefdf235e56e/albert-almora.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Sports](/section/sports/) ## Sports Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Baseball](/tag/baseball/) ## Baseball Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Batter Weeps After Hard Foul Ball Hits Child at Cubs-Astros Game  by [Jamie Ducharme](/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. May 30, 2019 12:34 PM CUT  Albert Almora Jr. is comforted by Jason Heyward after a young child was injured by a foul ball off his bat against the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park on May 29, 2019. Albert Almora Jr. is comforted by Jason Heyward after a young child was injured by a foul ball off his bat against the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park on May 29, 2019.Bob Levey—Getty Images  by [Jamie Ducharme](/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. May 30, 2019 12:34 PM CUT A young child was taken to the hospital after being struck by a foul ball at a Wednesday night game between the Houston Astros and the Chicago Cubs, visibly upsetting the player who hit the ball. The Astros confirmed that a young fan was taken to the hospital after being struck by a ball at Houston’s Minute Maid Park, but did not offer details on the child’s condition. “The Astros send our thoughts and prayers to the entire family,” the club said in a statement. > [](https://twitter.com/astros/status/1133932172367339520) The foul ball was hit by Cubs outfielder Albert Almora Jr. during the fourth inning, [according to the Houston _Chronicle_](https://www.chron.com/sports/astros/article/Young-fan-struck-by-foul-ball-during-Astros-Cubs-13905432.php "undefined"). Almora was visibly shaken and comforted by teammates after the incident, and later appeared to cry after talking with a security guard in the area where the child had been injured, the _Chronicle_ reports. “God willing, I’ll be able to have a relationship with this little girl for the rest of my life, but just prayers right now,” Almora said after the game, according to the _Chronicle._ The incident comes after a [woman was killed](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-baseball-mlb-lad-death/la-coroner-rules-woman-killed-by-foul-ball-at-dodger-stadium-idUSKCN1PU2K6 "undefined") by an errant foul ball at Los Angeles’ Dodgers Stadium last August. Her death was thought to be the first directly caused by a foul ball in about five decades, but fans are injured in this fashion fairly frequently. A [2014 Bloomberg report](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-09-09/baseball-caught-looking-as-fouls-injure-1-750-fans-a-year "undefined") said 1,750 fans are injured by batted balls, most of them fouls, every year. In 2015, a woman also [suffered life-threatening injuries](http://time.com/3911585/fan-injured-red-sox-oakland-athletics/ "undefined") after being hit by a broken bat at a Boston Red Sox game. Last year, Major League Baseball [announced](https://twitter.com/MLB%5FPR/status/959069205277618176 "undefined") that all 30 teams would extend protective netting, which is intended to stop balls from entering the stands, at least as far as the ends of both dugouts. Prior to that announcement, individual teams decided how much netting they wanted to use, prompting criticism from some fans—[and players](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2017/09/20/emotional-todd-frazier-calls-for-more-netting-after-hitting-young-girl-with-foul-ball/?utm%5Fterm=.eac2430a0103 "undefined")—who felt the league was not doing enough to protect attendees. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5598113/foul-ball-hits-child/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5598113/foul-ball-hits-child/"},"headline":"Batter Weeps After Hard Foul Ball Hits Child at Cubs-Astros Game","datePublished":"2019-05-30T12:34:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T23:37:59.416Z","description":"The ball was hit by Albert Almora Jr.","url":"https://time.com/5598113/foul-ball-hits-child/","keywords":["Baseball","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc7846ece4bf231ff/69894a938fd2eefdf235e56e/albert-almora.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jamie Ducharme","jobTitle":"Ducharme is a contributor to TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/"}],"articleSection":"Sports","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc7846ece4bf231ff/69894a938fd2eefdf235e56e/albert-almora.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Albert Almora at the Cubs-Astros game","caption":"Albert Almora at the Cubs-Astros game","creditText":"Bob Levey—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/baseball/","name":"Baseball"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5598113/foul-ball-hits-child/","name":"Batter Weeps After Hard Foul Ball Hits Child at Cubs-Astros Game"}}]}] ```