Matt Holliday takes 95 mph pitch to face, tries to stay in game

St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Matt Holliday appears to have avoided what could have been a terrifying injury Thursday. During his sixth inning at-bat against San Diego Padres pitcher Andrew Cashner, Holliday was hit in the face with a 95 mph fastball.

Unbelievably, Holliday stayed on his feet after being hit. He walked away from the batter’s box and then voluntarily went to his knees as trainers come out to meet him.

After being checked out by trainers, Holliday actually got up and walked down to first base with a bloody nose. He actually tried to stay in the game, though he was replaced by pinch-runner Mike Leake once he touched first.

Amazingly, Holliday escaped the incident without any major injuries.

This is all good news. And while the injury wasn’t serious, kudos to the Cardinals for being cautious with Holliday. There was just no need for him to remain in the game, even though he looked surprisingly decent considering he just took a fastball off the nose.

Now that Holliday appears to be OK, we can focus on the lighter side of things. His walk down to first base produced one of the most badass baseball pictures we’ve ever seen.

That shot is reminiscent of the picture of Nolan Ryan standing on the mound with blood on his face and uniform.

The message here: Don’t mess with Matt Holliday.

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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik